Bleach: The Shoujo Side
by Kurosu
Summary: AU, Rukia-centric. Rukia has a promise to fulfill, so she does her best to fit into the normal high school girl life... but she doesn't realize that her life is far from normal! Not when there are Hollows, boys, yakuza clans, and rival schools involved! NEW: EP 12, a date that turns into disaster! What's Rukia to do when Toushirou's suspicious of her!
1. Enter Kuchiki Rukia!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo. Um, this is AU so some OOCness here and there... It's also Rukia-centric! Also bad language ahead.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode One: Enter Kuchiki Rukia! A Normal High School Girl?!**

Life was good. It felt warm and safe, like curled up in thick comforters in the cool autumn morning and feeling so comfortable and lazy as to laze in bed all day long. It had been so long since she last had such a tender feeling, almost making her cry at the long lost opportunity. The sigh wistfully escaped her lips as she kept her eyes closed to the world, afraid to lose the moment from awakening to what might be just a dream.

Then a sweet hum reached her ears, and she knew. Her eyes burst opened, and she sat upright, seeking the origin of the soft tune. She was in the middle of the green field, laid beneath the warm sun that kissed her pale skin - no wonder she felt so warm - and for miles before her, fields of endless flowers. Not far off, though, behind her, to her left, sitting beneath the shaded tree, a young woman sat, with her legs tucked under her and a book in her lap. Her dark eyes followed each word in the book as the melody continued to flow from her thin lips. She looked up and smiled at the young girl sunbathing in the field.

"Rukia..."

The said girl blinked and stared then rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. To make certain that the woman before her was real, that her sister was actually smiling at her. She felt the wetness prick at the edges of her eyes and pushed them back, climbing to her feet.

As if with dramatic moments like this, time fell into slow motion as Rukia started running towards the angelic woman, with outstretched arms. She quickly shortened the distance between them and just as she was about to fall to the older woman and encase her into a loving embrace, the almost forgotten book smacked in the girl's face - so much for a heartwarming reunion.

"Onee-san?" Rukia spluttered out, filled with confusion. The girl, rubbing her face from the unexpected attack, stood in front of her older sister, as the woman seemed to dust off some invisible dirt off her dress.

"Rukia, do you remember the promise?" she asked, in a calm and gentle voice. The book had returned to its original spot in her lap.

"Yes! Yes, I remember!" she answered with great enthusiasm, which her sister was quite proud of.

"Good." She paused for a moment, but still smiling, she directed her index finger at Rukia with all the dramatics of a raging sea storm sinking a thousand measly boats of pathetic men. "Then... HURRY THE HELL UP AND FULFILL YOUR DESTINY!

"RUKIA, WAKE YOUR ASS UP NOW!"

Rukia blinked a few times at her words, then in the next second, she was no longer looking at her semi-psychotic sister screaming at her but the white ceiling of her bedroom. She laid there, very still, and tried to process her dream, which had seemed so real like she had been commanded by the queen of hell herself. She looked at her hand - front and back, flexing the fingers as if her appendage was completely new to her - and then brought it down to her face and rubbed it wearily. She sighed and peeked to the side table, towards her alarm clock...

Half pass six, in the morning.

With another sigh, she pulled her covers over her head for more undisturbed sleep.

Then in the next second, the covers and comforter and pillows flew to the side as she jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. Obviously, chaos ensued for the sixteen-year-old girl with morning preparations for school. For a healthy teenage girl, one would think the pink wallpaper with white bunnies would be outdated, but then again, her height and petite size made her look more like a junior high student instead.

Twenty-something minutes later, she returned to her room in white robes and grabbed her new, pristine school uniform from her closet. She rushed through putting on her clothes, just as a knock on the door sounded. She gave an unladylike grunt at the acknowledgement of the maid on the other side, informing her of breakfast.

Rukia quickly smoothed out the gray, pleated skirt of her uniform and adjusted the red bow on her white shirt. She double checked her appearance in the mirror, and after one twirl for a full inspection, she was satisfied. Then her eyes stared in the mirror at the particular long bang between her eyes. She puffed at it and then tried to brush it behind her ear, only to have it spring back into the same spot. She flicked the offending hair and sighed, realizing it wasn't going to be out of her way, and resigned to having some breakfast.

And fast, since she needed to be on schedule to her first day of high school, which technically was already the third week of the school semester already. She sped down the hallway and then came to a quick stop before the dining room, of what appeared to be a traditional Japanese house. The maid greeted her and slid the screen door for her to gracefully enter. She quickly sat down at the seat prepared for her and bowed to te old man at the head of the table.

"Good morning, ojii-sama," she greeted politely and elegantly. He gave her a curt nod in return and resumed reading the morning newspaper as he normally did, keeping one eye inconspicuously on his granddaughter. After the food was brought before her, she started to eat, sipping the warm miso soup, and enjoyed the nice feeling in her stomach. She had tiny smile on her face that her grandfather noticed, and he folded his reading material and placed that aside. He took a sip of his tea and then... pulled out a camera and started taking snapshots of her.

"Ojii-sama!" she screeched unexpectedly at the old man's sudden action and tried to cover her face for the horrendous flashing of the camera. "What are you doing?! This is highly unorthodox for breakfast!" She shoved the camera out of her face, since she was very shy in front of cameras, especially when she was the subject of adoration.

"But Rukia! Today is your first day of school!" he huffed out, with such beautiful eloquence that one forgot this man was a doting grandfather and not the former head, much feared and respected, of the Kuchiki clan. Rukia persistently refused, shaking her head with pursed lips and waving her hands in front of the lens to block out any more shots.

And with a defeated sigh, he resigned to his seat and to his now lukewarm tea. She started at him for a moment, in fear he might jump at her with the camera again, and when no signs betrayed such action, she continued with her breakfast.

"Rukia," he started eventually, getting her full attention once more, "about this school situation. I support you in this, but... you know how your brother is. When he finds out..." At the mention of her brother, every muscle in her body, including her facial ones, tensed, and her grandfather noticed immediately, chuckling, "Well, he won't find out for another month or so."

She let out a dramatic sigh of relief and absentmindedly placed a hand over the area of her heart, "Ojii-sama, I almost died."

"He will find out sooner or later, but are you willing to face the consequences?"

She gulped and nodded, looking down at the food and thinking about her sister. It took a few minutes for her to resolutely look up and face the old man, "I made a promise to onee-san, and promises are to be kept." And with flames of passion burning within her stomach, despite the loud growls of hunger, she pumped her fist into the air dramatically, "As in the words of dear onee-san, I will hurry and... FULFILL MY DESTINY!"

Grandfather Ginrei Kuchiki managed to snap this triumphant pose, much to Rukia's embarrassment and dismay.

* * *

After bidding her grandfather goodbye for the day, Rukia went into the foyer with her schoolbag and put on her shoes. A young, roguish man with wild hair was waiting for her at the door entrance. He wore a causal suit, leaving the collar of his white shirt unbuttoned, and a loose, black tie that made him appear like he had just returned from partying all night. He had a wide grin across his handsome face, which had tattoos proudly displayed: a bar of gray color and the number sixty-nine.

"Renji has the car ready," he informed her, "so any time, princess..." That earned him a knee kick to his guts, and he doubled over in pain.

"You know I hate it when you call me that, Shuu," she scowled and stomped out the door, gripping her schoolbag tightly in her hand.

"I was joking~!" Shuuhei tried to salvage the situation and then followed her, wincing slightly from the pain and making note to be on her good side for the next few weeks. When he stepped outside, into the morning sun, he grinned at the extravagant sight of the Kuchiki estate: two rows of very intimidating, tough men, dressed in black suits lined the stone pathway that led out to the main gates.

They all bowed to the young woman of the household with much respect and reverence, "Good morning, Rukia-ojou-sama!"

"Ah, good morning, everyone," she return the greeting, with a very composed expression that only a true Kuchiki could wear. This scene felt like it was right out of a shoujo manga, and that thought made Rukia's eye twitch for a millisecond, which no one, thankfully, caught. She took a step forward and walked proudly as a Kuchiki woman to the main gates, with Shuuhei in tow.

Shouts of being safe and good luck echoed among the men to her, and she smiled serenely in return to their kind words. How she loved her family, as quirky and strange they could be sometimes, but they were important to her. And to them, she would always be their princess of the Kuchiki yakuza clan! Well at least, they used to be a yakuza clan, but in recent years, the family managed to become a more modernized family business... of everything! This happened due to her dear, talented, older brother.

And whenever she thought of how wonderful her older brother was, her deep violet eyes would become all sparkly, filled with great admiration and respect. That was how she appeared at the moment, standing in front of the opened car door that Shuuhei had kindly held for her. In the driver seat, the red-head with the weird eyebrow tattoos just stared flatly at their young charge.

"She's at it again," he sighed and then shouted at her, "Hey Rukia! If you don't get in the car right now, you're gonna be late!"

That, of course, worked, and she snapped out of her daze and hopped into the backseat, mumbling something about a stupid, tactless, red pineapple. After Shuuhei closed the door, he climbed into the passenger seat, and the car started moving out of the Kuchiki estate. During the ride, the apparently loud driver started to voice his opinion on the situation, "Seriously, Rukia, this is a dangerous situation you're putting yourself in. What if you get attacked?!"

Rukia scoffed, "Attack by who? Other high school students with books?! Or pencils? They're what, gonna stab me to death with them? Or bore me with lecture notes to the grave? Geez, Ren, you ought to have more faith in me. I can take care of myself very well, thanks."

Shuuhei laughed while Renji fumed in redness, to match his ridiculously colored hair. The latter punched his friend in the arm to shut him up while he glanced over his shoulder to Rukia, who seemed to grab something out of her schoolbag. "Look, this is a public high school we're talking about. Who knows what kind of people attend..."

"You mean teenagers?" Shuuhei chuckled.

Renji sent him a deadly glare and continued, "Anyway, if you wanted to attend high school, you can go to a private one... and I think Kuchiki-taicho-"

"Why do you keep calling Byakuya-sama 'taicho'?"

"Huh... well, it sounds cool."

"Good point. 'Kuchiki-taicho' does sound like he leads a group of badass yakuza members," he grinned.

"Hisagi, quit interrupting me for pointless shit. I'm trying to get some sense into Rukia here!"

During this whole car ride lecture, Rukia barely paid them any attention. Her nose was stuck between the pages of a book, a girly book... that looked more like a shoujo manga than anything else. Her brows furrowed together in deep concentration, while the background noise of Renji's ramblings kept playing, and when he finally noticed that Rukia had not participated in the discussion, he turned back to see her reading the shoujo manga.

"WHY ARE YOU READING THAT STUPID THING?!" he yelled at her, filled with irritation.

The said manga smacked him in the face, and she told him, "This will help me with being a normal high school girl! A girl must be kind and gentle, refreshing like a spring day... humble and shy and be positive!" Her eyes glossed over while Renji tried not to gag.

"Rukia, you're the opposite of that!" That earned him a few more smacks from the manga.

* * *

Meanwhile, a cool-looking delinquent with wild, azure hair was preocupied with the black bundle in his arms. Who knew the almighty, tough guy named Grimmjow Jeagerjaques had a weakness for little felines, and if anyone ever found out, they were dead. He still had a reputation to uphold, but right now, in this unknown neighborhood, no one would know about his cuddling the cute cat right now.

The said black cat seemed a bit annoyed though, not enjoying the affection the man was giving her. She was trying to glare at him, until something in the distance caught her eyes. The cat flailed her paws in the direction of danger, causing Grimmjow to follow her gaze...

"OH WHAT THE FU-!"

"RENJI, YOU MORON! WATCH THE ROAD!

"WATCH OUT!"

With Shuuhei and Rukia screaming in his ears, he turned to the road ahead of them and panicked, quickly hitting the brakes before it could hit the blue-haired man whose eyes were large as soccer balls, and the cat in his arms looked like it was suffocating from the deadly grip.

The vehicle screeched to a stop, a mere three inches from Grimmjow whose back was pressed against a tree and he was breathing deeply and slowly trying to process a close call with death. It didn't take long for him to snap out of his stupor when Renji yelled at him, "Stupid, get the hell outta the way!"

"What the fuck!" Grimmjow shouted back, loosening his hold on the cat who then immediately escaped. "You shithead, you're on the fucking sidewalk!"

At that note, Renji finally glanced at their surroundings, and lo and behold, his crappy driving had the car halfway upon the sidewalk, and said driver had no comment. The other two passengers in the car were still recuperating from the insanity, especially Shuuhei who looked like he was seeing his last moments on earth.

"Where the fuck did you learn to drive?!" the stranger kept shouting at Renji and went up to the car and kicked the front of the car, which almost caused Renji to get out and deal a beating, but Rukia placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him and exited the car as a representative of the incident. Her full blown Kuchiki mode was on!

She stood next to the car - more specifically next to Renji's side of the car - with arms folded over her chest and feet firmly set about two feet apart, and a cold, hard stare graced her delicate features. It caused Grimmjow to falter back a step at the unexpected presence. She looked like a princess with a glowing aura of 'bow before me and grovel at my feet, peon', and her tone was even and strong yet humble as she spoke to him, "On behalf of my incompetent driver..."

There was an offended 'hey', but Rukia silenced him with a backhand to his face when he tried to poke his head out to interrupt her. She continued without missing a beat, "I apologize. You are not injured, I hope."

Grimmjow, currently speechless at the apologetic girl before him, just shook his head in response. From his observation, for such a small girl, she held such a proud but modest air about her. She, dropping her arms to her side, stepped closer to him to make certain he sustained no injuries. And with her standing so close, he really noticed how short she was but she still held that noble-like authority. For the first time in who knew how long, Grimmjow was nervous as the girl inspected him closely, mumbling something about no physical damage and inquired about any traumatic mental damage.

He almost slapped her away from him, "WHAT TRAUMA?! How can I be traumatized by this stupid thing?!"

Rukia raised an eyebrow at his outburst and said calmly, "Well I would've offered some reparation..."

"Hey," Renji called to her, "we're gonna be late!"

Her neck snapped around to him at the realization, and she fled from Grimmjow's side, hopped into the car, and Renji backed the car off the sidewalk then drove off while flipping the stranger off. A very pissed off Grimmjow kicked the tree and let out a string of vulgar words.

During all this, the black cat from before had watched it all and now was staring at the vehicle disappearing down the street. A flicker of emotions passed through her feline eyes, and she jetted down the road in the same direction as the car - though she had another destination in mind.

* * *

Rukia was running down the sidewalk as fast as she could to make it through the school gates before they closed. Because of the car incident, she just had to be late on her first day of school. To make matters worse, she forced Renji to park the car a few blocks away from the school so that they wouldn't recognized, even if know one would notice them, she still couldn't take that chance. She had pulled this stunt behind her brother's back, so she couldn't drag the Kuchiki name any further.

She didn't make it in time at all. The gates had already closed, but a few lingering teachers were still present. She bowed apologetically to the teachers inside the school grounds, and after catching her breath, she explained with teary eyes that her first day started out horrible... waking up late, barely able to eat her breakfast, almost got into a car accident, and getting lost on the way. She was looking forward to coming early to meet her wonderful teachers and classmates, since she always had private tutors due to her family situation.

Moved by such tragedy that a lovely girl her age should face - and being understanding and gullible people - the teachers allowed her inside and also gave her words of support and encouragement, welcoming her to their high school. Rukia dabbed her wet eyes with a handkerchief and thanked them and made her way to the main building, mentally congratulating herself on an acting job well done. She slightly frowned thinking how her acts never did fool her brother, which probably just meant she needed to work harder.

It wasn't too long when Rukia found herself lost within the hallways. She never knew schools were big enough to get lost in, but then again, she sometimes got lost on the Kuchiki estate too, even having lived there the majority of her life. She was... now lost in thought... when a hand suddenly landed on her left shoulder, and on instinct, Rukia grabbed the insolent hand tightly and spun around to her astounded assailant, twisting the arm to his back. Her right foot kicked his lower legs from underneath him as she pressed the captured arm to his back and forced his whole body to the ground, also pinning his other arm next to him with her free hand.

He was shouting his loud protests when she, sitting on his back, noticed the male uniform of Karakura High School, so she quickly released them as other teachers and students entered the hallway after hearing the loud cries. Onlookers watched in amazement as the young man with obnoxiously loud orange hair turned his furious amber eyes to her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he demanded, after gathering the remains of his dignity together and crawled away from the unfamiliar psychotic girl. He leaned against the wall and glared at her, absorbing her details so next time he could avoid her. She was a petite female - one of the smallest he had seen, he guessed - with raven, short hair and... big, round, violet eyes... beautiful eyes that drew him in, into her chaotic world. That completely sealed his destiny - he was royally screwed.

She blinked her attractive, violet eyes at him unintentionally and speechlessly and then realized her identity would be blown if she didn't do something fast, so she dropped into her weak and demure girl act again, sniffling, "I'm very sorry! You just... startled me! And I don't know what came over me."

She crawled towards him, in between his legs, and leaned close to him, grabbing his hand, and he looks very nervous and scared - and also being the very aware, teenage male, his cheeks flushed a heated pink. She whispered softly, "I hope you're not hurt. I don't know what to do if... if..."

Rukia, forcing her tear ducts to start a bit of the water works, tugged at his hand which pulled him towards her and cupped his face with both of her hands. When she got his face close to hers, several gasps echoed in the hallway - though many weren't sure why the two weren't being stopped at the public display of affection on school grounds - and everyone held their breaths at the intimate scene, but what really happened between them wasn't a cliched kiss.

Her expression changed, sliding her noble Kuchiki mask of threatening indifference on, which caused him to stare at her with wide, interested eyes, and he wondered if this was the same girl from before. "Just follow my lead, and no one gets hurt," she warned and quickly turned sweet again, "You are okay, ne?!" She finally stood up, looking down at him with fake worry.

"Err, I'm alright..." he answered hesitantly, avoiding the eye-level of her skirt that revealed a nice pair of toned legs and still trying to figure out what the hell just happened. One moment he was heading back from the restroom when he spotted the confused girl, and with that overwhelming need to help her, he approached her quietly, then BAAM, out of the blue, he was thrown to the floor... by a girl half-err, two-thirds his size!

"Oh really?!" She stared at him with shimmering pools of violet, not sure if she was still acting or not, but they made her look even more beautiful, and he blushed again at the thought.

To hide such embarrassment, he quickly stood up, laughing nervously, "See! Totally fine! Aha-ha..."

Now would be the perfect time for a responsible adult to intervene, and Rukia looked around for one, still in her good girl mode, when she spotted a teacher who then waved the girl over, leaving him quietly to thank whatever gods were watching over him.

Or whatever gods that weren't, because after he had returned to his classroom, Ochi-sensei was speaking to one of administration personnel, and then the crazy girl from earlier appeared! She was smiling sweetly - the type of smile Ichigo would learn to fear - to her new classmates, as their teacher introduced her as a transfer student, into the third week of the first semester of school.

Ichigo looked around at his classmates who were already enthralled by her superficial appearance of an angel and scowled. He wasn't going to be fooled by her; he had the upper hand in this... this, he wasn't quite sure what to call it, but he knew that girl was a devil!

"Kuchiki Rukia~!" she bowed, recalling her wonderful and helpful shoujo manga she adored, "Please take care of me~!" Her eyes quickly scanned her audience, who seemed to approve of her introduction with big smiles and wistful sighs (mainly from the guys), and a flash of recognition and annoyance appeared for a second when she spotted the noisy, orange-haired student.

He shared the equal irritation and shot it right back at her, who retained her charming smile as the teacher told her to take the empty seat in the back row, next to...

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Ochi-sensei pointed to him, and he resisted the urge to facepalm but instead held a challenging glare at his neighboring actress. "Please help Kuchiki-san get better acquainted with the school, Kurosaki."

"Ah," he answered, slightly glaring at new girl as she sat down, and received a piece of chalk thrown at his head from his teacher at his rude reply, "I mean, yes ma'am!"

Rukia was beginning to feel uncomfortable with the plastered smile on her face, but she must! It was the role of the normal and refreshing, innocent girl that she decided to take. If she considered it a mission, then a Kuchiki never, ever failed a mission! Of course, Kuchikis were proud, strong, determined people with cool, badass attitudes - she was taught well.

"Please take care of me," she said, filled with pure saccharine tone with the underlying threatening nature that Ichigo easily picked up, "Kurosaki-kun~!" That made his eye twitch uncontrollably, and a sudden chill swept through is body.

* * *

Meanwhile... that black cat from earlier, free from the clutches of Grimmjow, spent the morning sprinting across town to her very important destination, that ended up being a small noodle shop in a quiet neighborhood of no importance (for now). The sign on the 'Urahara Ramen' door indicated that it was currently closed, but she walked up to it and pushed against the door, shoving it open. She sneaked inside and looked around at the almost empty restaurant, except for the lazy owner who was currently sprawled across the bar top and dozing away. His face and snoring were covered by his bucket hat, and nothing, apparently could disturbed this man's peaceful slumber...

She hopped on the stool, then onto the counter top, and gave the disheveled, useless man a hard glare. With a heavy sigh, she popped her sharp claws out and proceeded to decorate his lovely face with them. Her poor victim shrieked in horror, and after recomposing himself, he slumped forward in his spot still on the counter with his legs dangling over the side. His rather handsome face was marred with red lines, but he didn't seem bothered by it, instead he adjust his hat and looked down at the cat beside him.

He grinned, "Yoruichi~! What brings you in to my humble restaurant?!"

"You mean your pathetic, little noodle shack," she jeered, rolling her eyes in the process.

"Aha, but you love my 'noodles'!" he chuckled, but whatever implications he had soon disappeared when she raised her sharp claws again.

"I have more serious matters to discuss with you, Kisuke."

"Hmm~ is that so?"

"Ah, I found a shinigami..."

* * *

**Next episode, A Magicial Shinigami?! But Where's the Transformation Sequence?!** (another working title?)

**Notes:** This is my first _Bleach_ fanfiction, and it's been a while since I've kept up with the series - meaning I've missed a few story arcs - but I've been in a _Bleach_ fanfic reading mood lately which inspired me to write one.

Rukia is my favorite character, so I had to write her as the heroine. This will reek of shoujo-ness, and since it's Rukia-centric, it will have a Rukia harem too since I couldn't really decide what pairing to go for... I like Rukia-pairings, even crack ones. Heh. Right now, two possiblities: IchiRuki or HitsuRuki (which isn't until later though)... but GrimmRuki, UlquiRuki, StarrkRuki?

Not sure what else to add here, but if you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Please let me know also if you find an error about a character or something I wrote, even though this is AU. My _Bleach_ is a bit rusty these days. ~kuro


	2. A Magical Shinigami!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Two: A Magicial Shinigami?! But Where's the Transformation Sequence?!**

Still the first week of school for Rukia, with Renji still driving her to school and Shuuhei tagging along, it would soon become the usual car ride... if only the red-head would learn to pay attention to the road instead of her business. Now instead of him insulting her shoujo manga, he was butting into her school situation, wanting to know every single detail about it.

"What are you, keeping tabs on me to report to nii-sama?!" Rukia scoffed.

"Wh-what?!" he stuttered, almost as if she had hit the bull's eye, but they had already sworn to secrecy unless she broke the truth to her brother first. "Why would you say that?! I'm just being a worried friend here!"

"Or a nagging mother," Shuuhei added, preoccupied with his phone.

Renji narrowed his eyes at his friend and asked, "What's your problem? And who the hell are you texting so early in the morning?"

"None of your business!"

"What the hell?! Aren't we best buds?!" he shouted, hurtful that being best friends, Shuuhei did not bother to inform him about his personal life. Renji glared at him where the latter was still busy on his phone, and then there was that tiny grin that threatened a pulsating vein on Renji's forehead. He tried to reach over to snatch the phone, "Let me see!"

"Hell no!" The two struggle over the possession of the phone like little kids over candy. One would think Renji would learn his lesson from last time, but no... "WATCH OUT, YOU IDIOT! THE ROAD!" came Shuuhei's warning, and Renji had swerved off out of the way before a certain orange-haired male would've been roadkill. The pedestrian was shouting something at the reckless driver - something about it was the pedestrian right of way - that Renji didn't seem to notice and spared him a tiresome glance.

Rukia, saw that it was Ichigo who was almost a victim to Renji's driving, snickered at the fortunate mishap on her classmate. That served him right for daring to challenge her. She had ducked down low in her seat when Renji had sped by, so Ichigo couldn't see her because she still wanted to keep a low profile at school.

For the rest of the ride, Renji managed to get them safely to the regular drop off point so Rukia could walk the rest of the way without any suspicion. Shuuhei, having tucked his phone securely in his coat pocket, helped the young Kuchiki out of the car, but before she left them, she reminded them to stop by the bookstore, to pick up her favorite shoujo manga, "I really want the new volume of _School Daze_! In volume eight, Hana will finally confess her love...!"

"No way! I don't wanna look like a freak!" Renji whined, "That'll ruin my rep, ya know! Just imagine all the weird looks I'm gonna get!"

Shuuhei laughed while she grinned, "That's the point!" She gave the patented, cold Kuchiki glare - exactly like her brother's - that commanded him to carry out the orders with no questions asked or any further objection. Talk about being whipped by the princess. With such finality, Rukia was satisfied and hurried off to school, leaving Shuuhei to chuckle at his friend's mishap.

Renji glared at him as he got back into the passenger seat. "I don't see why you're laughing, cause ya know WE are both getting it for her."

"I got something to do," he snorted.

"What the hell is this 'something' to do?! Does it have to do with your text from earlier?"

"Hmm, maybe... Well, yeah, I got a date."

"Bullshit!"

"What?! Just because you're single, doesn't mean I don't have a girlfriend!"

"When the hell do you have time for one?!" Renji argued, considering they're responsible for Rukia and other errands in the Kuchiki clan, since they still had to report to Ginrei and sometimes got on conference calls with Byakuya.

The two were still fighting over their personal lives, or lack thereof, oblivious to how loud they are and what a spectacle they are causing on the side street. It was at this moment that two students of Karakura were walking by, who spared some weird glances at the two men arguing. The healthy, busty girl by the name of Inoue Orihime opened her mouth wanting to ask the known question, but her male companion who called himself Ishida Uryuu shrugged and suggested, "Lovers' quarrel."

* * *

A very happy Rukia was settling into her seat and prepared for her first class with her textbook and notebook out and pen ready to learn. The learning environment was completely different from what she had in the past with private tutors, who were very strict and rigid and definitely suffocating. This was something she could contently adjust to, though it could also become a challenge in an unfamiliar place. With zero experience in such a culture shock to her, she could only rely on her most beloved shoujo manga as her faithful guide.

Now that she had entered the land of high school normalcy, her first agenda would be to... to... what was it, hmm... make friends? Yes, that was the start of a social network, meeting people and getting to know them. When one found common grounds, that was when a relationship of camaraderie would blossom. Now the problem was finding them...

Her mind was still in deep thought when it suddenly snapped up at the sound of the classroom door opening, and in stepped a very annoyed Ichigo, who dragged himself to his desk next to Rukia's. She furrowed her brows in his direction, thinking that he was more like the enemy than a comrade, yet she ought to put some effort into being amicable to everyone, including the enemy.

"Good morning, Kurosaki-kun~!" she greeted him with the irritating high pitch tone that he had begun to dislike. He grunted in reply as he sat down, but she continued to speak to him, "Why are you in such a bad mood?"

He sighed, apparently he wouldn't be rid of her curiosity by giving her the cold shoulder. "Almost got run over by some hooligan," he explained, and she giggled. At the honest reaction, he looked in her direction and noticed somehow... she looked genuine.

"Well the world is filled with surprises," she smiled, one that didn't look forced nor faked. It looked so natural on her soft features that Ichigo could almost give her a nice compliment - but that would be moving way too fast - so he settled with an affirmative, and they were soon joined by more of their classmates, including Uryuu and Orihime.

When Ochi-sensei entered, the school day would begin.

* * *

During lunch break, Rukia was finishing up some of her notes at her desk when Ichigo was about to get out of his seat to join his friends for lunch. He paused and looked at his studious-looking classmate for a moment. She had only been here for three days and had been eating by herself. To the others, she seemed nice and friendly enough to interact with them, so he didn't understand why she kept to herself at this point. He just didn't realize Rukia actually was devising some sort of plan to make friends.

When she closed her notes, Ichigo decided to go for it. "Hey Kuchiki," he called, and she turned to him, "If you want, you can join us on the roof for lunch." It was at that moment that his friend, from a different class, glomped onto Ichigo's back like the crazy guy he was. Rukia stared at them, rather too focused, but the pair reminded her a bit of Renji and Shuuhei when they were goofing off.

"Ichigo, you sly dog!" the newcomer named Asano Keigo teased, "Why didn't you tell about this beautiful classmate!" He released a scowling Ichigo and introduced himself to Rukia by taking her hand and wanting to place a slobbering kiss all over it, which thankfully Ichigo prevented. During the whole incident, she hadn't spoken so Ichigo didn't receive her answer for the lunch invitation, but she figured this was one way to making friends despite the inital plan she had where she would declare an announcement to the class about accepting applications for friendship... It probably wouldn't go that smoothly anyway, not like how she had imagined it.

Ichigo had Keigo in a headlock when Rukia smiled to them, "Kurosaki-kun, I would like to eat lunch with you guys." Keigo was overwhelming happy and launched himself towards her to embrace her, but Ichigo's foot kicked him to the wall. Rukia grabbed her big lunch bag and followed Ichigo out of the classroom, to the roof.

There on the roof, she met the rest of Ichigo's circle of friends, who were all guys. There was Sado Yasutora - though everyone called him 'Chad' - the quiet, tall guy who was actually a second year student, and Ichigo explained that they met through mutual enemies in junior high school. A curious Rukia wanted to know more about their junior high days, but Ichigo had already introduced the last guy in the group, Kojima Mizuiro. He had a kind voice that matched his youthful, soft appearance, and he was in the same class as Keigo so they were close friends which was odd considering how different the two guys were.

Overall, the four of them had a unique friendship, despite each person's different personality, and she smiled inwardly, envying them for that. She walked over to the edge of the roof and leaned towards the fence, staring down at the campus below, and her eyes widened in amazement at the spectacular view. She had always loved high places, but this was breathtaking, seeing her school and the neighboring areas.

Then she noticed a place just across the street from their school, "What's that place? It looks like another campus?"

Ichigo stood next to her and followed her gaze, "Oh that. It's Arrancar Delinquent High School. All the trouble makers and poor academic students go there."

"But right across from our school?" she questioned.

He just shrugged, indicating that he didn't care about the other school, and Mizuiro jumped in, "It's strange, but I heard there's a rumor of rivalry between the AHS princpal and ours. It's been going on for a decade."

Ichigo returned to the others and told her, "You better eat your lunch or you won't grow."

She gave him a hard glare, walking over to him... and behind, secretly kneed him in the back of the head, then plopped down next to him. Ichigo returned the fiery glare and then noticed Keigo scooted closer to her, which he immediately blocked with his fist to his perverted friend's face when he leaned down to her. She, leaning forward, was busy unpacking her made lunch, and Ichigo saw her big lunch box, packed together in a lovely culinary artwork.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't make that lunch," he commented, earning him a quick elbow to his side, while everyone else was admiring the beautiful art of delicious food. Keigo was drooling from his spot, and Chad mumbled something like not daring to eat it because it was just too beautiful to destroy. That didn't stop Rukia from attacking her lunch.

"You sure you can eat all that?" Ichigo asked, "It's a meal for like three people."

She nervously laughed and dug the unused end of her chopsticks into the back of Ichigo's hand while she offered to share her lunch with the other guys. The guys were too busy tasting the delicatessen to bother with Ichigo's wincing which Rukia was quite proud of.

"Learned your lesson yet?" she whispered to him, but he turned the other way, still sulking. She rolled her eyes and picked up a sushi roll with her chopsticks and held it towards his mouth. "Peace offering," she smiled. Keigo dropped the piece of food that was an inch from his mouth as he stared at the rather intimate pair. Ichigo, blushing, refused her offer, but a very persistent Rukia was practically force feeding him into submission.

"What the hell!" he shouted, "You tryin' to kill me?!"

"JUST EAT IT!" she yelled back, "EAT IT AND WE'RE GOOD!"

Rukia, by now, had him flat on his back and straddling his chest. His hands on her wrists as they fought over the acceptance of food.

"I refuse, you midget!"

"Midget?! How dare you!" She headbutted him, "Take that, you dumb berry!"

So much for a friendly lunch together... It was all out war!

* * *

Finally, the clock hit three-thirty, and school was officially over for the day. Rukia was packing her things up, still sour about what happened at lunch time. Her headbutt attacked had surprised Ichigo and knocked him out, so Chad volunteered to take him to the nurses off while she apologized profusely, faking sobs in between because she just wanted to be good friends with Ichigo that sometimes she would get carried away and be too forceful. They told her it was okay, and Ichigo was tough enough to take the physical beating. He better because it'd be pretty sad to be knocked out by the tiny, young woman.

In the middle of her sighing, Orihime walked up to her with two other female classmates. She had a warm smile, which Rukia returned in kind. The girl had a kind voice too, "Kuchiki-san, would you like to join us for karaoke? We want to properly welcome you to our school and our class."

Female friends! This was probably better than male friends, but that meant she would have to be less violent and be more girly. Okay, she could do girly - just act accordingly to _School Daze_'s heroine! Speaking of said shoujo manga, Renji had better picked up her copy of the latest volume today. She was dying to read it!

"Yes! I would love to come!" she tested out her girly squeal, which Orihime was happy to join in. The orange-haired girl then introduced her two friends: Arisawa Tatsuki and Honshou Chizuru - the former was very athletic and into sports while the other was um, more into Orihime and girls it seemed.

Rukia smiled, "Let me call my family first. I'll meet you at the school gates?" They all agreed, so after the girls left, Rukia called Renji to let him know she would be with her classmates for a few hours so he didn't need to pick her up. She strategically hung up after she informed him so he wouldn't pester her with questions and turned off her phone too. Now to spend quality time with her new female friends. She skipped out happily, thinking this would make up for her not so terrible lunch time.

* * *

For the past two days, Yoruichi the black cat had been trying to find her target. After her meeting with Urahara Kisuke the perverted ramen shop owner, it was agreed upon that she would seek out the girl again and have her sign the contract. Things needed to start moving fast if they were to make it by the deadline. Eight months was still far ahead, but the sooner the better.

She had scoured the west side of Karakura the other day, but still no sign of her. Today, she would try the east side and prayed that she would at least get some clue. She just hoped she wasn't too late before things started to get rough.

So yeah, Yoruichi was minding her own business on the streets of Karakura, east side of town, as she took note of the humans walking by her. A few of them had low spiritual pressures, nothing to go crazy over, but there was a particular one among the denser group just across the street. It was nearing her, so she ducked behind the potted plant and watched.

Through the crowds of people crossing the street, a certain young man filtered into view. He had a mop of ebony mess atop his head that framed his expressionless face, and his deep, emerald eyes held the same blank stare into nothingness. He was wearing a typical high school _gakuran_ - a white one at that contrasting against his dark hair - though a band of black cuffed the end of the sleeves and around the collar, along the edges of the fabric. A pin on his collar indicated the school he belonged too: AHS.

He didn't seem that interesting and definitely wasn't the one Yoruichi was looking for, so with a sigh, she was on her way once again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Orihime led the group of girls down to the popular area of town, which honestly Rukia had never spent time exploring. She had no idea the place she lived in was so filled with life and energy, but then again she was mostly confined to the Kuchiki estate and whenever she did leave, she was always with escorts and guards and limited to certain, important destinations. So this was definitely a life learning experience of how the normal teenagers lived.

"Ah I've never been here before," Rukia said softly with a hint of sadness, but her vibrant eyes were all over the place, absorbing in the sight. Chizuru sought this chance to embrace and cuddle the short girl, and Tatsuki had to quickly pry her roaming hands off Rukia, much to her relief.

"Here we are!" their busty guide announced, pointing to the sign above them, "'Para Para Karaoke!'" A paint truck must have crashed into the shop because all the colors of the rainbow was plastered on the walls and windows, and Rukia fell in love. It even had cute little bunnies and kitties on one of the advertisements. She was lingering on the ad too long, when the girls had started to enter the store. Orihime called out to her, "Kuchiki-san~!"

"Aah, I'm coming!" she answered, just as Yoruichi was coming from around the corner. The cat had the 'finally found you' look and sprinted towards the shop Rukia disappeared into, slipping inside just in time for the door to gradually shut.

If the outside showed how energetic and colorful the shop was, inside the store was twice the sore eye to any sane human, or cat. Orihime rented a small and very girly room, which only bothered Tatsuki a bit since she wasn't into all the pink and frilly laces but Rukia didn't mind. It even had white bunnies that she seemed to ogle over. The seating area was L-shaped and a very comfortable velvety material, with a rectangular table in front of it. The television screen was plastered on the adjacent wall of the door.

Chizuru eagerly picked the first song to sing with Orihime while the other girls found a spot on the couch. Rukia was mentally taking notes of what the girls were doing and how they were behaving, just like in _School Daze_! The girls always went to karaoke when they could because the heroine's best friend was a fanatic, but that was beside the point. She was now at a girls' get together which meant she was officially living the normal life of a high school girl!

Through the translucent door, Yoruichi peeked through to see the girls having a good time.

Tatsuki was looking at the shop's menu to order some snacks and drinks while Chizuru was urging Rukia to pick a song to sing, but the latter pretended to be shy and insisted the others to keep singing. It wasn't that she was embarrassed, because a Kuchiki must be able to do anything and everything, and vocal lessons were part of her learning regiment, but she had never had to vocalize it in public before.

At the sound of scratching, Rukia, sitting nearest to the door, turned around to see a cat attempting to push at the door. She made a confused expression before walking to the door and opening it. The cat then moved away from her towards the long hallway as if telling Rukia to follow her. Tatsuki called out to her, "Are you okay, Kuchiki-san?"

"Ah, just going to the restroom," she explained. She closed the door of the karaoke room and walked over to the cat. She knelt down and petted the fur ball, who had no time to waste.

Yoruichi broke the ice, "The name's Yoruichi, and you're the shinigami I've been looking for." Rukia's violet eyes were extra large today, since it wasn't an every day thing to run into a talking cat. "Yes, I'm a talking cat, but get over it!"

"Umm..."

"Here!" The feline dropped what looked like a badge in front of her and said, "Don't ask where that came from. Just consider it a magical talisman or whatever. I need you to follow me! They'll be attacking soon!" With those words, the speechless and confused Rukia picked up the badge with what looked like a skull on it and ran after Yoruichi.

The cat was taking her through the unfamiliar part of Karakura, even though it was just a few blocks for the karaoke place, and that was when there was a strange pressure in the air. Rukia felt it increase as she neared the destination, and all of a sudden, an explosion echoed from the side street in front of them. She caught up to Yoruichi while people were screaming and fleeing from the scene.

Rukia tried to ask someone what was happening, but no one had a clue. As long as no one was hurt then it should be okay. Well curiosity got her into this mess, so she might as well see it through, and carefully made her way to the corner with Yoruichi by her side.

"Be careful," the cat warned her, "You're going to see something horrible, but stand your ground. I'm here to help you through this." The girl had no idea what she was trying to tell her, but when they saw the source of the mayhem, in the form of some hideous, large monster, she had felt fear for the first time, even as a Kuchiki who feared nothing.

"That is a hollow," Yoruichi explained and noticed one of the last humans escaping the scene looking very familiar, "It preys on the high levels of reiatsu of humans and other beings. Most people aren't able to see them."

"That's why no one could tell me what was happening, except for the random destruction. They really can't see it." She swallowed hard, getting a bit tense from the dangerous situation. She was scared, who wouldn't be, but there had to be a reason she was chosen here. She had sparred with her yakuza clan since she was little, how different could this be?

"Right."

"Um, so what does this have to do with me?"

"You're going to defeat!" she paused for a bit of dramatic effect, "As a shinigami!"

"..."

"Well use that badge I gave you."

"You mean to transform into a shinigami? Do I have to shout some cheesy command lines and get this overly colorful transformation sequence? With background theme music and all?"

"You watch too much anime," Yoruichi deadpanned. "Just... hit the badge against your chest..."

Rukia did as she was ordered to, and out popped her soul in shinigami form, wearing a black shihakusho and equipped with her zanpakuto. "Wow," she looked at herself in pure astonishment, "I look very cool." She unsheathed her weapon and gazed at the beautiful, shimmering blade. It felt so strangely familiar to her, as if it had always been a part of her. She swung her blade downward, getting the feel of the weapon within her hands, and it really did feel like she had wielded it all her life.

"You have to destroy the hollow's mask..."

"Okay, understood!"

Rukia leaped into action before Yoruichi could give additional advice, but for some reason, the girl looked like she knew what she had to do. Yoruichi glanced at Rukia's solid form laying on the sidewalk, surprised that Rukia hadn't noticed her body was still there. A bit worried, the feline ran after the shinigami, running by the young man she had seen earlier. He didn't have an ounce of fear on his face, as if his whole face had been pumped with botox, as he jogged away from the scene of destruction.

He was rounding the block when he found the body of a girl laying on the walkway. As if the heavens had answered his prayers, the emotion of pure joy flashed in his green eyes for a brief two seconds before he wore his usual blank expression again. He knelt down to the girl's body, staring at her, and his right hand gradually descended upon her raven hair, sinking itself within her silky locks.

"So soft..." he muttered.

Ulquiorra Schiffer had finally found his muse.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rukia jumped out of the way when a car smashed into the ground towards her original position. She, having lost her initial fear, had caught the interest of the hollow now, and it was time to get down to serious business. If only there was awesome, kick-ass background music during her fight, which she made a note of finding later.

Anyway back to the fight at hand, Rukia just had to get close enough to destroy that white mask covering its face. The hollow reminded her of a giant, about ten times her size, with elongated limbs, clawing at the obstruction in its path. It swung a claw towards Rukia who dodged to the side and slashed her zanpakuto at its hand, causing it to roar in pain, but still didn't stop it from lashing out even more. Its speed was faster than she thought, and all she could do at this point was to evade it.

She couldn't avoid it forever, but she couldn't think of how to get close to it. In that brief moment, his claw barely missed her, smashing into the building behind, and that was when she saw it. Its long arm was still stuck in the damaged building so it used the other one to attack her again, but Rukia jumped onto the trapped arm and ran on top of it straight to its head. Its free hand swung at her, but she was still much faster.

With her blade gripped securely in her hand, she leaped high into the air at the hollow's face, and with both hands on the hilt of her zanpakuto, she swung it down on the mask, slicing it cleanly in to two pieces. The hollow screamed in agony and soon dissipated into the air as glistening particles of reiatsu.

Rukia landed nimbly on her feet and stood up, sheathing her weapon the scabbard, just as Yoruichi walked up to her, very satisfied that she had chosen the right person for the job. Now she could rub it in Kisuke's face about it.

"You did very well-err," Yoruichi realized she never asked for the girl's name.

"Rukia. Kuchiki Rukia."

"Rukia," she tested out the name, "A very strong name." The girl gave a quiet thank for the compliment, and Yoruichi turned back towards the direction they had come from, "Let's get you back into your body, before people start asking questions."

"My body?" And it finally hit her, "Err, so this shinigami form is not all of me?"

"It's our soul that's separated from your body. When you're in this form, your body will appear dead to others. That's why we must hurry." At those words, Rukia sped down the street with the cat in tow, only to find a strange guy cradling her body in his arms.

Ulquiorra was happily - even though one couldn't tell from his impassive expression - cuddling her and mumbling something inaudible. She panicked and kicked him in the head, and he felt the pain and rubbed his head, looking to see what caused it.

"PERVERT!" she screamed. Yoruichi just sighed and gestured with her paw for Rukia to get into her body, which she hastily did. As soon as she was back in her body, Rukia's eyes shot opened and glared at the guy, who actually expressed a teeny ounce of surprise. She quickly sat up and pushed him away. "Pervert, pervert, pervert!" she pointed at him.

He just stared at her. "You... aren't dead?"

"YOU'RE A NECROMANIAC!" A horrified Rukia screamed and ran off.

* * *

**Next episode, Welcome Home! Abduction of the Kuchiki Kind! **

**Notes:** Ah, I apologize if the action was crappy. I'm not good with action scenes, haha... And also, the end was a bit rushed and altered from the original outline I had. There's also a scene at the end that was taken out since it was getting longer than I had expected, so I'll just add that missing scene to the next episode.

I have a vague outline for the next 10 or so episodes, so we'll see how updating this goes... I get lazy after a while. Thanks for reading. ~kuro


	3. Welcome Home!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Three: Welcome Home! Abduction of the Kuchiki Kind! **

The next day at school, Rukia was apologizing profusely to Orihime and the others about leaving unexpectedly. It was such a drastic emergency she had completely forgotten about her schoolbag too, which she also thanked them for holding on to for her. She would have to make it up to them somehow, but what was an appropriate repayment to her kind classmates?

"Don't worry about it, Kuchiki-san," Tatsuki waved it all off as nothing.

Orihime agreed, "We'll have other times to hang out together. There's still a whole school year!"

"Of course!" Rukia smiled, and they all planned to have lunch together later. She was fine with it and returned to her seat with the happy grin on her face.

Ichigo was reading his textbook and spared her a look, wondering if she had some neurological disorder or something because ninety percent of the time she was beating him to a pulp while she treated everyone else like they were a precious commodity. He shouldn't have such an interest in the short girl, but he had never met anyone remotely like her before, and curiosity just got the best of him. And hoped it didn't just kill him some day - either that or the girl known as Kuchiki Rukia.

* * *

"RE~EN~JI~!" Rukia seethed, in the backseat of the car, "Why aren't we moving?!"

The two of them were currently stuck in the afternoon traffic, and to make the day worse, she had to ditch her friends to get home after receiving an urgent text message from Renji about a clan meeting. She disliked the meetings when the whole clan was involved, especially the elders from the branch families. They always put a lot of pressure on her brother to do what was best for the whole clan - a clan that had been around for centuries.

She was very impatient about this sudden meeting and was worried about her grandfather having to deal with the elders without her brother present. Although she was a girl - the sister, the adopted sister - she still felt the need to be involved as part of the Kuchiki family. She was practically raised as one anyway, and despite being labelled 'adopted,' both her grandfather and brother saw her as the closest person to a family they had, and she loved them for it. She would do any thing for them... ANY THING... like blast through this horrendous traffic.

"Seriously, Renji, the one time I need your crappy driving, you actually obey the law."

He threw a glare over his shoulder, "So I have your permission?"

"Of course!"

That was all he needed to rev up and hop the wheels onto the sidewalk and pretty much run over the horrified pedestrians who literally jumped out of the way. Unfortunately, Renji happened to have slightly damaged the corner _kouban_ - the neighborhood police station - with two shocked officers staring at said destruction of their now missing door and partial wall.

"Did you get the car and plate?"

"No, I'm still in shock."

"Good point."

* * *

Shuuhei pulled out his phone and read the message, while Ginrei was enjoying his late afternoon tea. The young man informed the Kuchiki patriarch, "Rukia-sama will be home soon."

The old man nodded at the information and continued to enjoy his beverage, without a care in the world about the awaiting elders in the main assembly room, who had been waiting for at least thirty minutes already, so what was another thirty minutes. It wasn't like these old geezers had anything else to do be gather to criticize the youth of today. He had a feeling this meeting would put some pressure on his granddaughter.

Speaking of the girl, he popped a small digital camera from the sleeve of his haori and gave it to his subordinate, "Hisagi, please have these pictures developed. That should complete the first album of her sixteenth year."

"Hai." Shuuhei could only accept his assignment with a quiet affirmative since it wasn't his place to tell his employer that his obsession with capturing every moment in his granddaughter's life was overdoing it. Then again, the Kuchikis rarely had a female descendant in the family - although she wasn't related by blood, but that did not stop Kuchiki Ginrei.

It only took another twenty minutes for Rukia to appear, dressed in a simple floral kimono at the last minute, with her grandfather in the assembly room. The two sat on the raised dais with Renji and Shuuhei seated on either side, slightly tucked in the back row as their current duty as lieutenants was to guard their charges.

Below the platform, on the regular tatami flooring, the eight elders of the branch families were seated, in the typical _seiza_-style, two rows of four persons. The third row had an addition six men dressed in black suits, who looked alert and intimidating, being members of the main Kuchiki household.

"Kuchiki-dono. Rukia-sama."

Both nodded to the greeting, and Ginrei addressed the group, "We've gathered today to discuss a few things. Unfortunately my grandson, Byakuya, the current head, is not with us to speak his thoughts on the matter. Therefore, I shall speak on his behalf."

There was a pause, allowing quick, sharp glances between the elders, before the main topic was introduced, "There has been recent issues of territorial disputes of the northwestern districts coming to light. You should not concern yourselves with them. These are low-level groups trying to stir trouble. They are merely trivial matters which will be handled discretely."

"Kuchiki-dono, it is a cause for concern when they claim to have the Kasumiouji Clan as support!"

In short, while Byakuya was away, the smaller, unofficial rival clans had set sights on plotting against the Kuchikis of the northern district to overtake their territory little by little and overthrow one of the greatest yakuza clans in history. The elders are worried about this so called rumor and to make matters worse, if any of those groups found out that Rukia was 'playing high school' in the public eye, the clan could take a major hit in their reputation.

Anger got the best of her when she slammed her right hand to the floor, grabbing their attention and not caring that she broke from her feminine grace, "I am NOT playing around! This is a legitimate experience to learn about the common life of man! We may be Kuchikis, but we are all human beings!"

She punctuated the end of her rant with a fist pump and a cheering Renji, whose head became Shuuhei's wad of paper (he found in his coat pocket) target, and the brunette grumbled a 'don't encourage her' line.

Rukia apologized, smoothing the strands of hair from her face, while recomposing herself. Ginrei coughed and drew the attention away from her, "As you can see, my granddaughter takes her role as a Kuchiki very seriously. I support her decision of associating with those outside the clan. It will create a future network of more acceptable relations."

"That maybe so, Kuchiki-dono, but Rukia-sama's safety is a top priority.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but she attends this public school alone. Without a single guard around."

"Her attendance is highly inappropriate, and it gets even more ridiculous by the second."

And much disagreement and disapproval ensued among the elders. Even Rukia was about to jump in again to prove her point about being able to take care of herself. She didn't learn karate, aikido, judo and kendou for nothing! And add being a shinigami - whatever that entailed since she hadn't quite talked to Yoruichi about it since that... first time - to the kick ass list.

"Please calm down," Ginrei tried to appease the group, "I have taken that into account and have prepared for it."

The old man smiled, a seemingly innocent yet all-knowing smile, that had Rukia curious. One could tell where she got the craftiness from, and only from the best.

* * *

So came the next morning, where Shuuhei, instead of Renji, was taking Rukia to school. The drive was a lot more calm and sane, despite the girl's lousy mood because of the clan meeting from the other day. She rested her elbow on the armrest of the car door and leaned her cheek upon the back of her hand, looking tired from the lack of sleep and bored. She, surprisingly, didn't even have the energy to read the latest volume of _School Daze_!

"So, where is Renji?" she asked.

"Ah, he had something to take care of," he explained and then added as an after thought, "He'll see you soon though."

Before Rukia could ask what his words meant, the car came to a sudden stop, causing her to lurch forward in her seat. It was a good thing she wore the seat belt today, even without Renji present to drive. She was about to comment on Shuuhei spending too much time with Renji's terrible driving, when she saw the cause of the stop: the familiar black cat crossing the street.

"Of all the places," the girl groaned, and Yoruichi, now on the sidewalk, looked back at her. The feline gave a nod of acknowledgement towards her before running off again, which caused Rukia to wonder if something was happening again. With the animal safely aside, the car started to move again as Rukia remembered the piece of paper she tucked into the pocket of her skirt. She pulled it out and stared at the address that Yoruichi had given her.

After running off from the crazy pervert that happened a few days ago, Yoruichi had caught up with her to give her a location to meet at, but Rukia hadn't given it much thought when she left at the time. This shinigami business seemed important, but she did have other matters to worry about too, so fitting this other problem into her busy schedule was frustrating.

Rukia made it to school in one piece, and with so much on her mind, she walked right pass a familiar red-head - in a cheap, blue jumpsuit instead of the cool-looking black suit - washing the windows. Just five steps away was when she stopped, leaving her foot in mid step, and she could feel her left eye twitching uncharacteristically in public. She spun herself around and was faced with a rather chipper Renji cleaning the glass pane.

"Renji! What the hell!?" she freaked out.

"Huh? Oh hey, Ru-!"

Cutting off his words, she had immediately grabbed him by the collar and dragged him down the hallway through the crowd of curious onlookers, heading towards the back of the school with some teachers experiencing the speed of hurricane Rukia, and out to the side of the gymnasium where there were zero spectators to see them.

She practically dropped him to the ground and demanded to know, "What are you doing at my school?!"

"Geez, Rukia, chill." He stood up, trying to fix his outfit, but the glare she was giving him made him nervous. "Err well, ya see, Kuchiki-dono was tryin' to shut up the ol' geezers 'bout your school thing, so he had me come here to guard you. Just in case. I mean we know you can handle things, but just to be safe ya know. Consider me as your back up."

He tried to end the explanation with a big grin, but she wiped it off with her fist. "What the hell, Rukia! I can't go back to work with a shiner!"

"Oh shut up," she growled, "It's enough I deal with you at home, now here too?! Give me a break!"

"You're just upset I'll blow your cover, huh!"

"..."

She actually hadn't thought about it and wanted to do more physical damage to him, but the morning bell rang. She shook her fist at him, promising of future punishment, and then ran off to class, while he breathed a sigh of relief and then smiled mischievously, pulling out a familiar-looking digital camera.

"Heheh, Kuchiki-dono asked for some good shots of his precious granddaughter too."

* * *

Rukia arrived to her classroom a minute late and bowed deeply, apologizing for her inexcusable tardiness. Ochi-sensei dismissed it since it was her first one and gestured her to be seated. She walked to her desk and sat down, ignoring Ichigo's questioning look. When she wasn't going to give him an answer, not that he deserved one, he frowned at her. Here he was trying to be a decent classmate, and maybe friend.

* * *

"Back to the manor, Kuchiki-dono?"

The driver reconfirmed his destination with his passenger in the backseat with Shuuhei, who was reading the message on his phone. Everything was good on Renji's end at the school, which was a great relief for them. Rukia was the pride and joy of the clan after all.

The car jerked to a stop, and Shuuhei cursed his luck with car rides. Maybe the Kuchiki employees need a recourse in proper driving techniques. "What's wrong?" he questioned, only to have the answer a second later when six masked men surround the car. One of them had a gun aimed at the driver, who threw his hands into the air in surrender.

They had just left the Kasumiouji estate five minutes ago, branching onto a small road to get to the main one, but now they were stuck three blocks from any aid. Shuuhei could even see the busy traffic far in the distance, but no help could arrive fast enough. He didn't think anything would go wrong from this short excursion. Hell, no one even knew about it, and that was why Shuuhei had been the only one needed to guard the former Kuchiki head.

It was a tense fifteen seconds with everyone frozen in their positions. Ginrei remained calm and composed under dangerous circumstances, but he had been in the business all his life to be used to such things.

"You guys got balls," the apparent leader spat at them, "Come into Kasumiouji lands with so little guards."

The men finally approached the stalled vehicle slowly, now armed with guns. The driver was pulled out of the car, followed by Shuuhei's side door being opened. Just as the handle clicked, the young man took a risk and swung the door hard and fast at the man, forcing him to stagger to the ground. A nimble Shuuhei had ducked out of the car after him, grabbed the man's armed hand and part of his jacket, to roll him on top just as another gunman started shooting.

"No one leaves the Kasumiouji territory alive!" he declared with a laugh as the shooting began.

The bullets plunged into the human shield, and Shuuhei kicked the dead man into the air towards the shooter, knocking him into confusion. He was able to grab the corpse's unused gun and returned fire, killing him and a third guy at the rear bumper.

During that time, the other men dragged Ginrei out of the car and used him as hostage. By the time, he wounded the fourth gunman, the other two had disappeared with the old man through the alleys.

Shuuhei let out a few more curses before he decided calling Renji was his only option. He glanced to the driver, whose body was in a heap on the ground by the open door. He was dead too.

* * *

Ah, it was lunch time at Karakura High School, and Renji was just finishing up the hallway when he saw the students leaving their classrooms. It was at that moment in time, a mildly sane Ichigo, after having to suffer through class with Rukia next to him, exited into the hallway... Light brown eyes clashed against... er, reddish-rown eyes? Something to that effect, along with a dramatic flash of lightning in the background due to Ichigo's recognition of the red-head.

The roguish teenager waved a very pissed off finger in the direction of the school's janitor, who seemed confused as every other student present, "You're THAT guy!"

"What guy?"

"That hooligan driver that almost killed me the other day!"

"Pfft, what lies, young man!" Renji was now in his face, denying it all except for his delusional fact: "My mad driving skillz are AWESOME! There's this one time, with the taichou, the building was on fir-!" A thick chemistry textbook shut Renji's mouth and face up, before he could reveal unnecessary information. Everyone backtracked to the source of the book to find a twitching Rukia standing right outside the classroom.

"Oho~ho~ I apologize for that, sir!" Rukia laughed nervously behind her hand, "It just... slipped out of my hand..."

Ichigo scoffed at her lame excuse, "You mean it happened to slip out of your hand, at 100 mph... to HIS FACE! You wanted to kill him!"

She gasped all innocent-like, "Ho-how can you just accuse a poor, innocent girl without any proof!" She stood her ground against her taller adversary, "You're such a mean brute! Why must you pick on me so?! I just want us to be friends, good friends!" She slapped him on the back, very hard that caused him to fall forward. He quickly braced himself, just as an in pain Renji handed the textbook back to Rukia.

"Besides," she started to explain, with a tilt of her head and a cute smile, "Renji is actually my neighbor. I was just so excited to see him working here."

Everyone turned to the said man, still rubbing his face, and he mumbled an agreement before she could hurt him again. Now if Rukia's eyes had laser power, he'd be melted into a pile of goop already. All the students present of course believed this so called half lie - since Renji sort of did live near her on the same compound and worked for her family - but only Ichigo could still be suspicious of the maybe bipolar girl.

Rukia eyed her orange-haired classmate and in her falsetto tone, she asked him sadly, "Kurosaki-kun, you don't believe me?" She made her eyes large and watery to add a more innocent effect that was slowly cracking down his hard exterior.

While she seemed busy with her friends, Renji pulled the phone from his pocket, walking away to a more secluded spot to answer. His partner informed of the events that just occurred and resulted in the abduction of the former Kuchiki clan head. "We should keep this quiet," he surmised, "Don't want those elders finding out and causing a fuss yet. I'll keep Rukia safe while you question the Kasumioujis."

"The Kasumioujis?" came Rukia's voice from behind, since that was all she caught of the conversation, "What about them?" She scrutinized Renji's nervous behavior as he hung up the phone. "What's going on, Ren? Did something happen?!"

Now, Renji was a terrible liar when dealing with the petite girl, so it was best just to spill it from the beginning. "Your grandfather's been kidnapped," he leaned close to her and told her in a low voice, "in Kasumiouji's territory." Her eyes widened in fright at the fact. She could deal with her own problem, but when it involved her family, it was unforgivable!

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime had called her from down the hallway. Her group of friends were waiting for her to join them for lunch.

"Ah, Inoue-san," she started to walk towards them, "I have a family emergency. Could you let the teacher know I'll be leaving early? Thanks!" She gave a curt bow and ran off, back towards Renji's direction, and the two of them disappeared from sight, leaving a bewildered Orihime and friends... and a worried yet intrigued Ichigo.

* * *

Renji drove Rukia across Karakura town and met up with Shuuhei before setting foot on the Kasumiouji estate. They were actually welcomed very warmly despite it being an unexpected visit, which was normally rude to show up unannounced. It should have been odd to receive the Kuchiki granddaughter when the said old man had visited hours ago, but the current head of the Kasumiouji Clan, Kintarou Kasumiouji, didn't like the grave look she wore.

The servant poured tea for both parties, and Rukia graciously accepted a sip before starting. "I apologized for the abrupt visit, Kasumiouji-dono, but it concerns my grandfather. Hisagi-san here informed me, that my grandfather paid a visit to you."

She stopped there for him to explain, although Shuuhei had given her a summary of signing a truce to cease all and any conflicts between the two clans and those minor ones within the clans' protection. As much as he disliked speaking to a female on serious matters between men, it didn't seem like he had a choice, and he didn't want to keep her any longer.

"Kuchiki-dono had proposed a truce to alleviate the rumors of territorial disputes between the lesser clans. That would eliminate our main clans and reveal those instigating the war."

"A means to reveal the source of the problem," she nodded. "But it seems the source is already a step ahead of us. Grandfather has been abducted on his return from the meeting." As she revealed the detail, she watched the man's genuinely surprised reaction carefully, "This meeting was kept secret, even from the elders. The only people who knew were few, and are present with me now."

She turned to Shuuhei and nodded for him to speak.

"One of the men said to us 'no one leaves the Kasumiouji territory alive'."

The clan head jumped in angrily, "I ordered no such thing! This must be a setup!"

Rukia couldn't blame the man for being upset, because she would be too if her family was accused of such treacherous deeds. She tried to calm him down, "I am not suggesting anything. I was merely confirming grandfather's purpose for visiting you, Kasumiouji-dono. I trust your words and my grandfather's faith in you."

He let her words process in his mind and then smiled - for such a young one, she has the air of authority and maturity about her in a grave situation. If anything ever happened to Byakuya, she would definitely carry on the Kuchiki name well. "I rather perform _harakiri_ before dishonoring the truce by abducting Kuchiki-dono," he declared firmly.

She bowed her head deeply and excused themselves from his presence. Before he allowed them to leave, he offered his clan's aid in the matter, which she declined gracefully, "Please do not worry yourself, Kasumiouji-dono. It is a Kuchiki business, and the Kuchikis will resolve it."

He looked thoughtful for a moment and remarked, "You are a fine, young lady of the noble Kuchiki house." Then he spoke to the servant to send their guests out safely. Rukia thanked him, and they left, regrouping in the car for the next step.

"Do you really trust those Kasumioujis?" Renji questioned. He had always been doubtful of outsiders.

"They're not involved," Rukia said with finality, still thinking about the situation.

"How do you know?"

"Just think, Ren. The Kasumioujis and the Kuchikis are two of the four noble houses. In the past, sure they disliked us and competed over lands and whatnot, but times have changed. They had many opportunities in the past to outdo us, especially before nii-sama inherited the head position. So why bother with it now?

"And to abduct grandfather after a secret meeting? I would've used the unrest of the lesser clans and the rumors to my advantage."

"Like a reverse pyramid effect?" Shuuhei asked.

"Right. With the turmoil starting at the bottom, it will affect the internal structure, eventually causing a collapse of the top hierarchy." She paused and then added, "Well that's just my speculation."

Renji started the engine and eventually took them out of the Kasumiouji estate. There was no destination in mind, while they - meaning Rukia and Shuuhei since Renji needed to focus on driving - thought over the events in the past two days. This was when their young charge thought aloud, "If the Kasumioujis weren't involved, and only they and us knew of this meeting... then wouldn't it be someone inside our clan?"

"What?! That's crazy!" Renji exclaimed, "Why would our own people sabotage our own clan?!"

"I'm just thinking about reasonable suspects here!" At the realization that someone in their clan was involved, she made an unhappy growl, "Ugh that means we'll have to speak with the elders about this. I don't want to deal with them after last time." Then a thought hit her, and she scrambled to get a piece of paper from her pocket and gave it to Renji.

"Drop me off there," she ordered. She watched him punch the address into the car's GPS, and a route appeared.

"Err, this says it's a ramen shop."

She just shrugged and followed the indicated route without another word. Fifteen minutes later, the car stopped in front of 'Urahara's Ramen Shop'. She hopped out of the car and told them to speak with the elders and get any information on suspicious clan activities within the last year. After the car disappeared around the corner, she walked up to the door to the noodle shop and entered.

To call it a restaurant was an overstatement, it was more of a shack than anything else. There was a long counter that separated the cooking area from the customers' seats. Stools filed across the counter while additional tables and seats lined the front and side walls. One could probably get about thirty people inside, but at the moment, the place was completely empty.

"Hello~?! Anyone here?!"

She was confused now, but why would Yoruichi send her to a ramen shop. Sure, she was rather hungry, since she did miss lunch and driving around town with two bodyguards.

"Well well, what do we have here?" And entered Kisuke Urahara, lazy ramen shop owner. He seemed to be leering at her from behind the folding fan, "Ah, you must be Kuchiki Rukia."

"Yes, and you are... Urahara-san?" She figured from the shop name.

"Urahara Kisuke. Friend of Yoruichi," he added, just in case she wanted to pound him from the semi-perverted look he had just given her.

"Right, so where is Yoruichi-san?" she asked, moving over to the counter to make sure there was something in between them so she could counter attack if she had to.

"She's in the back," he closed the fan and gestured it over his shoulder, "but first, you and I need to get down to business. Shinigami business. So please have a seat."

"Excuse me, but can we discuss that later. I'm actually here for your help. You see, my grandfather has been kidnapped, and we need to find him."

He stared at her for what seemed like a long time in the creepy, old man kind of way, but she only narrowed her eyes at him in return. Then he laughed, "In that case, let's make it even quicker!" When she glared at him harder, his laughter turned into nervous chuckles, "I mean, just sign here and we'll help you!" He pulled out a stack of paper from apparently thin air and laid it in front of her.

"What's this?" She started to flip through the writings, which looked like really ancient Japanese language, "Do I need a lawyer?"

"A lawyer?!" he chuckled, "I doubt there's a lawyer familiar with shinigami related subjects."

"I'll have to read it first!"

Great, Yoruichi had to find a stubborn shinigami to do business with. He sighed, "I doubt your grandfather has the luxury to wait."

"You-!" She snatched the papers from him, "Ugh, fine. Where do I sign?" She flipped to the last page with the dotted line, just as he grabbed her hand and brought the edge of his unfolded fan to her skin and sliced it across her finger. She winced at the cut on her finger, and he pressed her bleeding finger onto the paper.

"All done~!" he smiled, tucking the papers away into his dark haori. Then he tried to grab her, over the counter, into his arms for a big hug, but was met by her fist into his face instead.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

"I wanted to congratulate you on becoming an official shinigami of Karakura!" he rubbed his nose. She looked uncertain, and he grinned, "I'll be training you, so don't worry."

"Oi Kisuke, what's with the noise?" Yoruichi finally showed up, and the annoyance she once had was erased when she saw Rukia. "Ah, you made it, Rukia." And from the goofy smile on Kisuke's face, she deducted that the contract had been signed and hopped onto a stool. "You still have the shinigami badge with you?" The girl nodded. "Good, keep it with you always. It'll alert you to any hollow appearances."

"Yoruichi-san, the other day, you were talking about reiatsu," she started, "Some people have them, right? Are they like fingerprints, specific to a certain person?"

"Yes, in a way, you can sense a person's spiritual pressure. With some training, you should be able to in no time."

"Okay, but right now, I need you guys to help me locate my grandfather."

* * *

No time was wasted, after Yoruichi agreed to help her, and Rukia, with said cat's help, sped down the street on a bicycle, borrowed from the ramen shop owner. Yoruichi was holding onto the girl's shoulder as the girl rushed to the site of the crime - on the way, ignoring the traffic laws that she deemed unnecessary when her grandfather was top priority.

Immediately upon arrival to the street that Ginrei had been taken from, Yoruichi recognized some reiatsu in the area, and there was a definite trail lingering behind. She informed Rukia of it, and soon, they took off again on the faint trail, whether it belonged to her grandfather or the kidnappers, she would find out. While the pair raced through town, another duo was doing the same in a car.

Unfortunately Renji was once again driving and nearly ran over Uryuu and Orihime coming out of a convenience store that evening. Shuuhei was holding on for dear life while trying to call Rukia to tell her about the news. She didn't pick up until the fourth ring, and she sounded out of breath too.

"Rukia-sama, we're headed to Kouga Kuchiki's house," he notified, "Kouga-san had been demoted to a lesser branch after several instigations with Byakuya-sama. He'd even threatened to bring the main family down, but he was intoxicated at the time. It seems he's still holding a grudge against the main family, and from Elder Doumon's records, there have been movements within Kouga's domain."

She hadn't seen her uncle in over six months - the last time was during Ginrei's sixtieth birthday celebration - but wasn't too shocked to learn of such news. She recalled the animosity Kouga had against her brother, because he had been certain the next head in line was him, instead that old man skipped his generation to give leadership to his grandson. It made sense that he would start this chaos while Byakuya was out of the country. By the time he returned, Kouga would probably have the clan under his reign.

Shuuhei disconnected after receiving orders from Rukia and told his partner, "She's on her way there."

* * *

"Huh, a yakuza clan," Yoruichi snickered, "You've got your work cut out for ya." She wasn't sure if it was a blessing or a curse to have the shinigami candidate belong to a yakuza family clan, a rather prominent one at that. It shouldn't affect the job, but the girl was also a high school student, juggling who knew how many things already.

How the cat had the easiest job in the world: holding onto her while she had to pedal like her skirt's on fire, weaving through people and traffic. It involved instincts and skills, so the feline better be impressed since they made it to Kouga's manor in one piece. That couldn't be said for Kisuke's bicycle though, because she had used it to crash through the front gates of the house.

"Ojii-sama!" she called out, and Kouga's men quickly surrounded her. After Yoruichi jumped off her shoulder and ducked aside, Rukia dropped into a defensive stance of aikido, carefully eyeing the ten men in the front courtyard. They slowly approached her from all sides, but she wasn't going to attack unless they did. They were armed with knives and guns but did not wield any, due to their opponent being a girl - and a Kuchiki at that.

"Is that any way to greet me," her voice bristled with sarcasm. While her attention was on the men in her direct line of vision, someone from behind approached her stealthy and grabbed her shoulder, which she allowed the pull, only to use her elbow to jab him in the ribs with great force. That attack sent him immediately to the dirt.

After the initial attack, the others began to assault her. She dodged every punch or grab at her person with great ease and swiftness. An arm sailed by her cheek as she twirled along side it, taking hold of his arm, and used his momentum to propel him right into two other men. Her movements were natural and graceful, almost like a dance she was enjoying with them, but every punch or shove had enough strength to force them to submission.

She ducked and swept her leg into an arc, knocking her opponent off his feet, and spun around in time to shove another's back with the weight of her body. The guards were thrown all over the ground while Yoruichi watched, impressed. It only took a few minutes for them to realize they were no match for a girl half their age and size, and Kouga had taken this moment to appear, clapping enthusiastically.

"Ah, my lovely niece decides to visit," he continued to applaud, but his green eyes held no joy.

"Kouga-ji-san, where is ojii-sama?" she inquired, after knocking another man aside. "He disappeared suddenly this afternoon and will be missing dinner soon. I came to see him home." With fists ready and legs moved into position, she was ready to be on the offensive, leaning towards her karate discipline to beat her uncle if she had to.

"What is the hostility for, Rukia-chan?" he smiled, "I just invited him to spend time here. It's been so long since any of you visited. I was just getting lonely." He, in slow motion for the only purpose of dramatic effect, ran towards Rukia with open arms of love wanting to embrace his adorable niece who decided to visit him, just like his dear father, Ginrei - never mind that he was being delusional.

Her eyes widened at his word, and then her fury flew, "LONELY?!" Rukia leaped into the air towards him, and her foot met his face, sending him crashing through the front door of the house. "You dare kidnapped ojii-sama because you were lonely?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

He started to sob, "Waah, now Rukia-chan is mad at me!"

"Of course I'm mad!"

Right at that moment, a car swerved through the front gates, knocking a few guards into the air, and Renji and Shuuhei popped out of it, both wielding swords for battle. They looked around and then to Rukia with the brunette asking, "Did we miss the party?"

Rukia, ignoring them, walked over to Kouga and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, "What's with all the animosity in the past, oji-san?! It was like you were provoking nii-sama to fight you!"

He was kneeling on the ground like a kid being punished, twirling his finger on the ground to make a random design, and sulked. "Byaku-kun was getting all the attention," he whined, "I felt so left out!"

"Are you fuckin' kidding me?!" Renji blurted out, "You did this 'cause you weren't getting any attention?! I wasted my whole day worrying over shit!"

To make things more awkward, Ginrei appeared on the scene with a warm cup of tea in hand, and he was sipping it as if everything was normal as could be. He smiled after seeing Rukia and the others were present, while Renji threw his hands into the air, in full surrender at the final reveal of the ridiculous situation, whereas Shuuhei just shrugged it off. Rukia's head practically lolled towards her left shoulder, and she sighed as her childish uncle poked her side.

"Ne Rukia-chan, you're staying for dinner?!" His green eyes seemed to sparkle innocently, awaiting her response, and she sighed.

It was just another normal day in the Kuchiki household.

* * *

**Next episode, What's in a Name? The Power that Will Protect!**

**Notes:** I apologize this episode was long. (I've been trying to keep it within 5000 word limit, which this broke.) And I had to change some things or else it would've been longer. Again, it seemed rushed towards the end, and the closing also changed. The original intention was a bit more serious, so having a whiny, childish Kouga Kuchiki was unexpected for me too. It's an AU and a comedy, so yeah, things will be OOC too.

I'm dying for other Ruki-pairings too, but the majority of them won't appear till episode 5 - sorry! It's just how my outline happened to be. If anyone is curious as to the story's pairings: Rukia with Ichigo, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Toushirou, Starrk and maybe a bit with Uryuu and Kisuke too. *shrugs* Possible Orihime and Uryuu, no promises 'cause I find Orihime boring sometimes.

I can't think of what else to say here. *currently suffering from a cold* Thanks for reading!


	4. What's in a Name!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Four: What's in a Name? The Power that Will Protect!**

Another lovely morning to be going to school was sort of on Rukia's mind if it wasn't for the fact that she now had time to read the latest volume of _School Daze_. After the past few days of chaos, things seemed to wind down for the mere semi-normal high school student, but it didn't help that Renji's snoring was ticking her off. She kicked the seat a few times to wake him up, but he only grumbled a few words and returned to snoozing again.

She sighed and peered outside the window, barely noticing Shuuhei from the corner of her eye that he was driving while texting. Not the greatest combination in a moving vehicle, especially when the car just slammed into something... Renji woke up wide-eyed while Rukia rubbed her head that had hit the back of the front seat, and Shuuhei had dropped his phone. But they all realized that the car had hit a someone, not a something.

They all stared into the morning skies as a certain Ulquiorra flew through the air and disappeared over the buildings in the distance.

"Yeah, your driving sucks, Hisagi," Renji declared.

His friend glared at him, while reaching for his phone. "Look, the guy was alive as far as I'm concerned," he grunted. "You've got more victims in the past week than I have!" He grabbed the phone and checked the last message before putting it away, just as Rukia smacked both of their heads.

"You both are equally bad!" she huffed out, "It's a miracle ojii-sama and nii-sama survived this long!"

And by that same miracle, Rukia and Renji made it to the school grounds in one piece. Renji went about his janitorial business, still on alert to protect his charge as dictated by his employer even after the abduction incident with Ginrei. One couldn't be too sure of what happened within the confines of a public high school. Bullying and harassment, the internet held many horrifying stories, yet none of them were the wiser when it concerned Karakura High School.

Who would think their precious Rukia would be the feisty mastermind behind the violent tendencies of said high school halls!

Speaking of said girl, she was preparing her usual morning rituals before heading to class. After switching her shoes out for indoor ones, she made her way pass the lockers and noticed, on the main bulletin board in the large hallway, a large warning poster.

Recently there had been random attacks and explosions in the neighborhoods of Karakura. The proper authorities were still investigating, but there were no sufficient evidence to conclude this to be some sort of terrorist attack. So with uncertainty floating about, it had been greatly advised that all students should immediately return to the safety of their homes after school had been dismissed. All after school activities had been cancelled until further notice.

It also recommended students to travel in groups for additional safety and report anything suspicious to the authorities immediately.

The students in the hallway whispered among themselves about the current events in town, and even the news channels had been covering the recent strange events. Some had claimed to see hazy images of monsters, but really, who would believe these crazies! Monsters didn't exist in this day and age.

But Rukia knew otherwise. She had a feeling it was only the beginning of something grand, or else life would be so boring. As much as she didn't want to see that lecherous Kisuke again, she had no choice but to speak with him and Yoruichi, after school. She had to get as much information as possible to defend her family and friends.

"Oi, what's wrong, midget?" Ichigo asked, appearing beside her, "You look constipated."

She threw icy daggers at him with her glare, before dropping into her girly act, as she dug the heel of her shoe into his foot, "I'm perfectly fine, Kurosaki-kun~!" Then she walked away from him, with a pep in her step because a tortured Ichigo in the morning was the best medicine to any worries. He mumbled a few curses before following after her with a slight limp.

* * *

Elsewhere in Karakura, a secret meeting was taking place at a deli cafe... well in the dark corner of the little, European-like eatery, where there was bad lighting to hide the identity of the very secretive man. All anyone could see clearly were his fine, manicured hands holding the porcelain teacup with such high class elegance. The cup raised to his lips as he inhaled the lovely aroma before taking a sip of the delicious beverage.

"Ah, I apologize for being late." A smiling Kuchiki Kouga - remember him, from last episode - sat down just as a waitress came by with a menu. He thanked her and put the menu down, turning to his partner across the table. "Well, things didn't go quite as planned. I didn't think my niece would get involved." He frowned, "She's becoming a nuisance like her brother."

"Are you telling me, Kouga-san, that a little girl is interrupting the plans?" His voice was deep and amusing with a slight underlying tone of frightening threat, that he was not going to accept any failures.

"No, of course not! It's just... a small hindrance." He was actually very worried but refused to show it to his partner in crime, who was rather intimidating with his super politeness and way too kind smile. This mysterious man was one to be feared. "The Kuchiki clan is rightfully mine!" he clenched his fists in emphasis.

The waitress returned with a tray of nice, moist towelettes for the two customers, and the dreadful atmosphere lifted into a perky one for lunch.

* * *

After school, Rukia managed to ditch Renji back on campus, despite the warnings from earlier that day to go directly home, and sneaked away to _Urahara's Ramen Shop_, and once again the place was empty of customers. She was beginning to wonder if the place was condemned for health reasons or the food was just terrible. She found Kisuke actually cooking on the grill, and he offered to make her a portion, which she declined.

"It's no trouble," he insisted, "I cook a mean yakitori with noodles!"

"No thanks, I'd like to live to see my next birthday."

"That's cold!" he feigned hurt.

She took a seat on the stool, placing her schoolbag on the empty next to her, "Is Yoruichi here too?"

"Ah, she's downstairs." He scraped the semi-charred chicken onto the plate, on top of the noodles, and placed the plate in front of her. He grabbed two pairs of chopsticks from below the counter and gave her a set. She looked at the food hesitantly and watched him take a bite. "Mmm, I'm a genius!" he chuckled.

He leaned on the counter, noting her reluctance in tasting the food, but she did try a bite and ended up making a distasteful expression. "Rukia-chan," he sighed, resting his hand over his chest, where his heart was situated, "you're breaking my heart."

"And you're destroying my stomach," she snapped. "Anyway, I didn't come here to eat."

He straightened his posture and waved his hand casually at her, "I know, I know. I knew you'd be dropping by." He started to walk towards the back of the restaurant and gestured for her to follow him. When she slowly moved out of her seat, he spared her a sly glance, "Rukia-chan, I'm not going to bite! Haha, unless you want me to."

Her face turned red at his bold implication, and he managed to dodged the piece of chicken flicked towards his direction. He laughed and disappeared to the backroom. She had no choice but to follow him but remained attentive at any sudden lecherous actions he could throw her way. She found herself in a long hallway that had several closed rooms along the way and wondered what laid beyond those doors in the silence and solitude, quite mysterious, but Kisuke had retreated into the room at the end.

Rukia entered the last room and found herself in a small storage area. Kisuke had pulled aside one of the floor panels to reveal a passageway that led down to who knew where. "Time to start your training," he smiled and jumped down the hole. She walked over to it and saw a very long ways down, but thank goodness, there was a ladder she could use.

Several minutes later and a long ass climb down, a very irritated Rukia managed to control her impulses of pounding Kisuke to an unrecognizable pulp. She was now standing with him in what looked like an underground cave, and while he looked proud of the vast area, she was not impressed. "Aren't you surprised to have all this space to train in?!" he asked her.

"The Kuchiki manor is just as large," she informed, with arms folded across her chest.

A snickering Yoruichi walked up to them, "I told you she wouldn't be impressed."

"Women," he sighed, and with his cane, he poked the tip to Rukia's forehead, forcing her soul out of her body. "As you know, Rukia-chan, you'll be fighting hollows. There are different types, but they'll only be stronger as time goes on, so you'll just have to become stronger.

"It seems you already know how to fight."

She nodded, looking at her shinigami form, still amazed with it. "Ah, I've trained in various styles since I was young," she added.

"Then we'll focus on your zanpakuto for now," he pointed to her sword that she had unsheathed. "Every shinigami has a zanpakuto, an extension of the soul that becomes stronger as the wielder grows stronger. The first stage of your training... to learn your zanpakuto's name."

"A name?"

"By learning the name, you can unlock your zanpakuto's power."

Rukia lifted her sword in time to block Kisuke's attack with his own weapon, that she had not noticed he had before.

"Meet Benihime," he smiled.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ichigo had just left the school and was on his way home, not that he was worried about the town's current scare of the unknown. He was a magnet to trouble and strange things, since he was a child, so this was nothing new to him, but he couldn't help but worry about his family and friends who weren't used to those things. And that just reminded him of Rukia's serious expression from that morning.

His phone beeped, and he pulled it out of his pocket to read the message. He smiled at the note from his sister, Yuzu. She was stopping by the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner, so he typed a quick message for her to be careful on her way home. He stashed the phone back into his pocket and continued his walk home.

At the corner, leading into his neighborhood, he saw a bouquet of flowers on the ground, and a little girl standing over it. She looked sad... and different. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, and he was certain he wasn't seeing things this time. She looked transparent, with unrefined edges to her skin. He sighed, and here, he was just thinking about attracting the abnormal.

He walked over to the girl spirit and laid a gentle hand on her head. The girl looked up at him, surprised that he could see her, but she reminded him so much of his sisters, and the urge to protect her was strong. She suddenly shrank back in fear, and he, too, could feel a sudden chill down his spine. He turned to his right and saw a huge monster stomping down the street. Its long arms swung side to side with each step it took, not caring whether it walked over cars or endangering humans, but it was apparent that people couldn't see the monster, still attempting to avoid the destruction.

* * *

Rukia parried a side attack from Kisuke and retreated, breathing hard from the few minutes of training. She didn't understand how this was supposed to help her learn the name of her zanpakuto, when all she was doing was just avoiding his attacks, which had been a non-stop of assaults. He was definitely not an amateur and only made her interested in his identity.

"Hm, aren't you going to attack, Rukia-chan?!" He swung Benihime down, barely missing the right sleeve of her shihakusho, and followed with a slice towards her side that she managed to evade at the last second. "You're cutting it close," he teased.

"You bastard," she grinded out. She took a few steps back, gripping both hands on the hilt of her sword, while he stood casually with his back to her. "What kind of method is this?! Trying to kill me?!"

"Just a bit!"

He spun around and charged towards her with the tip of the sword aiming right for her chest. She blocked the tip with the blade of her sword, but the force of his attack pushed her back, almost throwing her aside. He then jumped into the air and came down towards with the sharp blade cutting for her. She leaped out of the way, just as he landed the blade into the earth, creating a deep crevice in the ground where she had stood. Her feet rebounded off the huge boulder and propelled her towards her opponent.

The two swords clashed again, and with the momentum of her flight, she kicked her leg at his head, but he blocked it with a free hand and then grabbed her ankle, catching her off guard. He laughed while holding her high in the air by her ankle. She furiously tried to slash him with her sword, because he was just making fun of her height, but he easily blocked each one with his own.

Yoruichi sighed at the two, but they were all interrupted by Rukia's shinigami badge going off. She then kicked Kisuke's face with her other foot that allowed him to released her, as she flipped upright on her feet. She hurried to the entrance with the cat right behind her, leaving Kisuke to watch them depart. Even with the bruised cheek, he still managed a crooked smile, because he hadn't had fun in a while.

* * *

The hollow had spotted his targets, emitting delicious reiatsu, and was now getting closer to Ichigo and the girl spirit. The girl ducked in fear behind the human, but it didn't look like neither would survive the monster like that, so Ichigo grabbed the girl and started running. "Don't worry," he told her, "I'll protect you... somehow."

"Ah watch out!" she screamed. He glanced over his shoulder in time to crouch down as a partial brick wall flew over their heads and crashed into a building right next to them. He took off running again with the hollow still in pursuit of its meal. He wasn't sure how long he could keep running, but he had to think of something...

That was when he saw, in the distance, the awfully familiar form of Rukia in her black shihakusho. There was a black cat by her feet too, and she looked just as shocked as he was at the recognition of him. And then she realized that he could see her in her spirit form. He was shouting for her to run, but she didn't budge, standing her ground firmly. Just as he neared her, she took out her zanpakuto and held it by her side.

The hollow roared, apparently excited at the sight of a shinigami.

"Kuchiki!"

She ignored him and rushed forward, passing by him without another thought. She blocked the claw that swung at her but missed the other that smashed her into a building.

"Kuchiki!" A wide-eyed Ichigo saw her crash into the debris. He dropped the girl he had been holding and started to run towards Rukia's body.

Yoruichi stopped him, "You'll only get in her way!"

He stared down at the talking cat, "This... has to be a dream... Yeah, ghosts and monsters... Kuchiki cosplaying..."

"..."

* * *

Rukia woke up, feeling like a thousand pounds of rocks had fallen on her, and rubbed her head. She was sitting in the middle of the dirt road with old, wooden houses and buildings along either side. Nothing familiar to her at all, and it definitely wasn't Karakura anymore. She stood up, dusting herself off, and was aware her zanpakuto was no longer at her side. She looked around frantically for it, but she couldn't recall the last thing she was doing...

Not a single person was around. It was just her in this lonesome landscape. She turned her eyes up to the sky, a pure blue, untouched by the modern world, with patches of white clouds. She walked forward, slowly, observing her surroundings... that reminded her a lot of feudal Japan, like she had stepped back in time.

_'Why are you here?'_

She searched for the source of the soft voice.

_'What is it that you want?'_

There was no malice in the tone, just gentle curiosity.

_'Rukia-sama...'_

She didn't see another person at all, and it was driving her insane, "Who is it?! Show yourself!" A gust of wind teased her, as if responding to her, and she shut her eyes to guard from the dust and brushed her hair from her face. She heard a giggle and turned her head towards the roof. She saw a woman in a kimono of pure white staring down at her. She didn't look threatening nor dangerous, but something about her was familiar.

"Rukia-sama," she smiled, "don't you recognize me?"

She shook her head, "I don't think we've met before... have we?" She then gestured to the environment around them, "And just where am I?"

"This is our world," she spoke as if it was the obvious answer, "It is peaceful and calm here. You won't have to worry about anything. No one to keep an eye on you. No one to tell you what to do. You can be yourself here.

"Won't you stay here, Rukia-sama? Won't you stay here with me?"

The woman stood up and jumped off the roof and landed in front of Rukia - almost like she floated to the ground. "If you stay, you won't have to fight again."

Her words had been tempting, but Rukia remembered what she had been doing and her reason for showing up to this world, the subconscious between her and her...

"You're my zanpakuto!"

The woman smiled, "What is it that you want, Rukia-sama?"

They could hear Ichigo calling out to her; her name echoing into their world.

"Ichigo..." She could hear him getting hurt out there and became upset at herself for allowing it to happen.

"I want... I want to protect...!"

"Then say my name!" the woman ordered. The air around them became distorted and fierce, turning into a white blizzard.

"To protect those dear to you, say my name!"

* * *

Ichigo was able to turn the hollow's attention away from Rukia and onto him, but there was hardly anything that he could do to stop it. He was pretty beaten up, and there was a nasty gash on his leg, but he was still worried about Rukia under the rubble. He hadn't seen her move from there since being knocked out.

His movements had become sluggish because of his injuries, and he eventually tripped and fell to the ground. The hollow was looming over him, ready for the final strike. He barely had enough strength to move, much less avoid it.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki."

He recognized that voice, and relief washed over him when he saw her standing proudly behind the hollow. Despite the blood dripping down her face, she looked good. The sword she was holding became a brilliant white color, from the tip of the blade to the very long ribbon attached to the hilt.

"Some no mai, tsukishiro!"

The hollow turned around to face Rukia just as the white circle on the ground lit up, and the ice started to appear, trapping the monster in its place. Within seconds, it was frozen in the glistening ice, and Rukia jumped high into the air to come down upon the hollow with her beautiful zanpakuto and sliced the mask in half. Then the ice and remaining reiatsu faded into the air.

Ichigo was losing consciousness, but he could still make out Rukia's form coming close to him. She was standing over him when he fell into darkness.

* * *

Night had already fallen, when Ichigo woke up in his bedroom. He was surprised he was home in bed when he last recalled walking home from school, but the time in between that was a complete blur. He couldn't remember it if he had tried. The were a slight pain in his leg, but when he examined it, there wasn't anything wrong physically.

But he was certain there was something important that he had forgotten.

Right outside his window, Rukia and Yoruichi, who was riding on the girl's shoulder, were looking up to the second floor of the Kurosaki house. Kisuke was actually present too, which amazed the others that he had great timing to show up when he did. After healing Ichigo, he gave the young man a memory altering pill that would erase the last few hours from his mind, as if the horrible nightmare never happened for him.

"You're pretty useful," Rukia remarked.

Yoruichi added dryly, "Despite his perverted side."

"You guys are so mean."

* * *

The next day at school, Ichigo was settling in his seat when Rukia slapped his back as a friendly gesture, "How are you doing, Kurosaki-kun?" He could only stare at her in pure shock. As painful as his back had become, he was more concerned with the strangely behaved girl in front of him. He brought his hand to her forehead to feel her temperature.

"Did you eat something weird for breakfast?" he asked with great concern.

"What?! No!" she swatted his hand away, in irritation, "Can't I just ask a fellow classmate how he's doing?!"

He just eyed her suspiciously, "You? No. You're up to something, aren't you?!" In a huff, she turned away and ignored him, but he was still watching her carefully, afraid she might pull some prank on him or worse: confess her undying love. He shuddered at the thought.

* * *

**Next episode, Don't Break Tradition! Karakura High versus Arrancar High!**

**Notes:** This episode is not my favorite piece to write, but it had to be done. The point to it was to get Rukia's first dance. I originally didn't plan to write Rukia's inner world but thought a feudal Japan was appropriate. Pardon any mistakes and the shortness of this episode. I'm still recovering from my cold/flu/whatever crap I have.

Anyway, the fun and chaos begins in the next episode, because the boys come out to play... with their Rukia, aha. ~kuro


	5. Don't Break Tradition!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Five: Don't Break Tradition! Karakura High versus Arrancar High!**

Once again, the story started out with another bright, wonderful morning with Rukia going to school like normal. Almost normal because after days of reckless driving, she thought it was best to use a different mode of transportation: a bicycle. Unfortunately, with said bicycle, she was running behind schedule, with several traffic build up she did not anticipate.

So now Rukia was speeding madly down the walkway of people. One could almost see the lit fire behind her dark eyes and mistakened her for a loose insane asylum patient, but then again there were too many of those regularly on the streets of Karakura as of late.

She rounded the corner dangerously, but it was good that not a lot of people were at this part of the road so less casualties on her part to save human lives. She gripped her hands on the brakes, as she turned the handle bar. A successful turn... into a giant accident when it only took seconds for her to ram the front wheel of the bicycle into the back of the poor, helpess, young man. His name happened to be Starrk Gingerback, in case anyone wanted to erect his gravestone.

The man's two female companions - Tia Harribel and Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, or Nel-chan for short - walking on either side of him, watched with slight amusement and horror, respectively. The two young women were dressed in the traditional _seifuku_ uniforms of their school, even though they did not look like ordinary high school students at all. The unconscious Starrk also wore a white gakuran, just like Ulquiorra did (a few episodes ago), but he didn't wear it properly, leaving it unbuttoned to reveal the tight crew neck black tee shirt unerdeneath that hugged his sexy chest and abs. Was it mentioned he was still unconscious, knocked out by Rukia's lethal bicycle?

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" Rukia hopped off the bike and started bowing profusely in apology and tried to explain the rush to school. When Starrk hadn't moved, she worriedly dropped her transport mode and hurried to his side. At least he wasn't bleeding.

"Ah, it's fine," Tia reassured her, "He probably fell asleep after being knocked out."

Rukia's brows nearly rose straight into her hairline.

Nel-chan noddedly happily to confirm that fact - a bit too cheerful, causing her breasts to bounce in her answer, "Yeeep, so you shouldn't worry at all!"

Still, the short girl was hesitant as she climbed to her feet. To prove their words, Tia walked over to Starrk's lazy form and aimed her foot at his groin. With great momentum, she swung her leg forward... only to have his hand block her foot from damaging his precious goods.

"Reallly, Tia," he yawned, "I'd like to get laid a few more times before I'm done for good."

The blonde threw a deadpanned 'I told you so' look in Rukia's direction, whose left eye was beginning to twitch annoyingly, and asked her, "Mind running him down a few more times?"

He feigned hurt at her indifferent words, "That's cold."

"Well I'm really sorry!" Rukia properly apologized to him, who was still sitting on the ground for some reason. He just stared at her with his usual lazy expression, and she took it the wrong way since he didn't seem to accept her apology and became angry. She clenched her fists and prepared to give him a few more words, but he finally stood up, towering over her, and she thought Ichigo was tall.

He placed his hand on top of her head and remarked, "You're short like Lilinette."

And that comment did it. A pissed off Rukia kicked him directly in his crotch, sending him to the ground again with a grunt. Nel-chan flinched with enlarged eyes, but Tia only smiled in approval. Poor Starrk curled into a ball of pain while Rukia, satisfied got back on her bike, and with fake sweetness, she smiled widely, "And I'm terribly sorry again!"

She waved to the girls, and off she went down the street again at hazardous speed, while the two female students watched her, and a smiling Nel-chan was returning her wave like they were best friends planning to see each other again soon. She then turned to Tia and looked at their male companion who was still writing quietly in pain, "So, what should we do about Starrk-kun?"

"Let him die."

* * *

After the morning mishap, Rukia made it to class right on time. She greeted her classmates with her usual patent smile, but Ichigo saw right through her, the underlying irritation barely twitched through the fake sweetness. So now he had to tread carefully around her, to avoid any violent tendencies that she could take out on him, but it wasn't like he was afraid of the less than five feet woman, he was just taking a careful interest in his health lately - moreso than before, but that wasn't the point.

Homeroom announcements were quick and precise, and Rukia and other students unfamiliar with Karakura's history found out regular scheduled classes were cancelled for the day, but everyone was still required to be at school. They were soon filed out of the classroom to meet on the fields by the gymnasium, where a platform was set up by the very intimidating and crazy-looking student council of mostly third year students.

Too match their abnormal personalities, they did not wear the typical Karakura High School uniforms either. Instead, each person wore what suited them best, whether it was appropriate or not, like Sarugaki Hiyori, student council president, in her gym clothes. Next to her was the second year student vice president, Kuna Mashiro, who looked like she was cosplaying _Kamen Rider_. She was busy having a one-sided conversation with the treasurer, Yadoumaru Lisa, wearing the old KHS _seifuku_ uniform, who was busy reading a novel instead of listening to her comrade. Aikawa Love was the man for the secretarial position, doing nothing but read shounen manga, and last but not least, Otoribashi Roujuurou - preferably "Rose" - was in charge of the disciplinary committee, which actually consisted of one person. (Someone was being humorous.)

After said introductions, Hiyori eyed the first year students lined in the front row, hungrily. She even followed her greeting with a maniac cackle, and for some reason, Rukia liked the senior. She had the air about her to get things done, whether forcefully or not, but one knew exactly which method was normally taken.

Between the murmurs of the student population, Rukia gathered an understanding of the event.

That specific day was considered opening day for club member recruitment, which shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but the school, having been around for over a decade, had a tradition with its rival school across the street, Arrancar Delinquent High School. Each school would select a number of freshmeat- err, freshmen to fight it out on the battlefield of randomly selected events, as part of an open ceremony for club recruiting day.

"Eh?! What does fighting Arrancar have to do with clubs?!" Ichigo voiced his thoughts loudly.

Instead of answering his question, Hiyori growled a question at him, "What's yer name, punk?!"

"Uh, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Well Kurosaki, you're freshmeat number one!"

"..."

"Really, Kurosaki," Uryuu sighed at his stupid classmate's mistake and handed a two thousand yen bill to Keigo, who was happy to have won the bet, "can't you just keep your mouth shut."

Ichigo glared at the smarty pants, and Hiyori didn't miss a beat, "And glasses boy, you're number two!"

"WHAT?!" Uryuu exclaimed, "I thought this was random selection!"

"You punks are annoyin' me!" she declared, pounding her fist on the podium for emphasis, "I wanna see yer blood on the battlefield!"

"Shouldn't you be saying that about our rival?" some random student asked, but lucky for the person, she couldn't tell who voiced such a ridiculous thought, or else that person would have been the final selection of players.

During this incident, Rukia was deep in her thoughts about the interesting events that were unfolding before her. It wasn't like anything that happened in her manga, but she figured it was normal bonding time with students outside their school. Plus, she was very familiar with competition and welcomed it wholeheartedly. How did one improve one's self when there was no worthy opponent?

"Sarugaki-kaichou!" a very serious Rukia raised her hand and stepped to the front, out of the student line. The short, blonde raised an eyebrow and looked mildly interested in the bold student. "I shall accept the third position in battle!"

Everyone gasped at her declaration, and even Ichigo and Uryuu had their jaws dropped at the insanity of volunteering for a death match. There were cries of horror, mainly from the freshman population, for their beloved Rukia; they couldn't bare seeing her lovely face and body marred by the brutal rivals.

Rukia turned to face her fellow students to calm them, and with all graveness, she gave her short speech like a future leader, "Please do not fear, classmates! I have only been here for a short amount of time, but I am, nonetheless, a student of Karakura High School like you, and to represent each of you, I gladly accept all the challenges thrown at my feet and make you proud in victory!

"Together, let us crush our opponents and stand atop the pile of their beaten, bloody corpses! This, I, Kuchiki Rukia, promise you!"

After a moment of silence to let her speech soak in the slow minds of the average students, the hhunderous roars of cheers, excluding Ichigo and Uryuu who exchanged weary, twitchy glances, filled the grounds of Karakura High. And even Hiyori, who normally hated every piece of breathing idiot on earth, was very impressed. She could see the future makings of a dictator of Karakura High, which she pocketed in the back of her brain.

* * *

And so, the supposed randomly selected participants of Karakura High stood outside the closed gates of their school, like the lonesome trio they were in their seemingly last stand against the powerful. They were immediately taken aback by the faces of their opponents staring at them from the other side of the street, almost mirroring the dejected expressions of Ichigo and Uryuu.

"Karakura pride is at stake!" Rukia pointed out the obvious and glared at the familiar faces of Arrancar High School. She stalked across the street to face them head on.

Ichigo sighed and followed her, "She shouldn't be enjoying this."

Uryuu pushed up his glasses and went after his classmates, "Don't encourage her, Kurosaki."

"Ah, we're coming too!" Orihime bounced towards them with Chad right behind her, carrying a video camera. Ichigo and Uryuu stopped to let the other two join the group, and the busty girl explained with a toothy smile, "Well we got lucky to be chosen to do a live coverage for the event." Not that lucky since Chad's giant self stood out in the crowd and Orihime was just the overly popular girl to be their official beautiful reporter.

The group turned their attention back to their unofficial leader who stood proud against the three adversaries. It looked out of place for three towering, tough and intimidating delinquents staring down at the petite, fearless girl.

"Ah, to meet you like this," she started, folding her arms across her chest with her Kuchiki flair, "it must be destiny! Kuchiki Rukia." With worry, her two male comrades quickly stepped up to either side of her in a protective manner and introduced themselves with much disdain.

Team Arrancar's supposed leader spoke first, more like yawned and then stretched lazily, "Starrk Gingerback."

"Grimmjow Jeagerjaques," he growled in a royally pissy mood.

The last one continued to star absentmindedly at Rukia, "Ulquiorra Schiffer."

Grimmjow, with hands in his pockets, moved closer to Rukia and leaned down towards her face menancingly, practically a breath away, which forced an irritated Ichigo to intervene by shoving the guy back. He glared at Ichigo's nosiness and then turned back to Rukia, "I remember you. I demand a payment from that time!" (Please refer to episode one for Grimmjow's traumatized accident, which he will vehemently deny but still want restitution for.)

"What the hell do you mean 'payment'?!" Ichigo snapped at the blue-haired guy.

"What the fuck ya think it means, shithead!" he glowered back.

Ulquiorra strode forward and pushed the arguing Grimmjow and Ichigo aside easily and took the spot in front of Rukia, who for a brief moment looked nervous recalling the last time she dealt with him. "I want," in all the seriousness of this world and the next, he managed out, "your body..." And he quickly dodged Ichigo's and Grimmjow's fists, not missing a beat, "to model gothic lolita fashion." (Please refer to episode two when Ulquiorra discovered the muse in Rukia's apparently dead body.)

Everyone, but Rukia and Uryuu, fell over, and the glasses wearing guy stood protectively in front of his female classmate, "How dare you subject Kuchiki-san to your horrible fashion sense! Everyone knows the pure princess trend is the current style!"

"I didn't know," Chad volunteered over the arguments and looked down at Orihime, who was just as clueless yet found it all fascinating too.

"Gothic lolita!"

"Pure princess!"

"Keep your emo friend away from us, you blue freak!"

"Eat yer own words, you fuckin' berry!"

"What a turn of events!" Orihime cried in shock, "The demand for Kuchiki-san even reaches the heart of Arrancar High! She has become so popular in such a short amount of time! Amazing! I wonder if Kuchiki-san will participate in Miss Karakura this year! Hehe."

Rukia looked at the bickering, young men and sighed. The only other person that almost seemed normal among them was... grabbing her by the chin. She stared flatly at Starrk who gave her a lazy grin, "You sure are popular, ojou-san. Everyone wants something from you."

She sighed again for the upteenth time, already feeling exhausted from the day, and it was only ten o'clock!

"And you want something too, hm?"

"I want a nap," he answered obviously, "And a napping buddy."

Four pairs of feet stomped him to the ground, followed by Grimmjow's 'get in line'.

* * *

Back to the showdown in the streets between the two rival high schools, it started to cause a bit of a traffic jam in the road, but with Grimmjow's threatening presence, who needed the neighborhood gangs to deal out beatings! After forcing a detour from the from the two schools, who were still in a heated glaring contest, no one bothered to notice the new arrival of Nel-chan who bounced onto the scene like she belonged there.

"Hi~ everyone! I'm Nel-chan!" she greeted cheerfully, and everyone turned to look at her. She blinked and waved an envelope in front of them, still smiling, "I have the location and the event!"

They stared at her some more.

She smiled and continued to blink.

They were still staring.

Orihime nudged her lightly, "Nel-chan, I think they want you to open it and tell us."

"Oh! Okay!"

Nel-chan did as she was expected to do and announced the address. No one recognized the location, but it did sound slightly familiar to the orange-haired Karakura reporter. The answer didn't come to her, so she shrugged it off when the others decided that it wasn't that far away, and they walked to their destination of battle. And Nel-chan decided to tag along since she was out of class anyway, because it looked fun with the new faces.

"Ahaha, after you left this morning, Rukia-chan," the green-haired girl giggled, "Tia-chan and I had to drag Starrk-kun all the way to school. It was such a workout!"

"I see," Rukia began to contemplate, "I apologize, Nel-chan, for the inconvenience. For future reference, I shall target an area that will not lead to unconsciousness." She then shared a smile with the busty girl, while everyone else, excluding a slightly flushed Starrk, gaped at her. They continued to walk in silence, but each was lost in their own thoughts about the situation and/or the recent conversation they heard.

Teenagers had very wild and vivid imaginations, which was always fun to dissect for entertainment, but the competitive event seemed to be the more interesting topic at the moment. The awkward group arrived at the location, and Orihime and Rukia recognized it immediately, because this was where the welcoming party for the latter took place. Chad, had the camera rolling the whole time, focused on the building and then turned to get the group's reaction, which had a wide range.

Grimmjow, Ichigo and Uryuu looked very annoyed. Ulquiorra had no reaction at all, while Starrk was busy yawning. Rukia was in awe, since the last time she did not get a chance to participate in such an exciting event, and now she had a second chance, even though she would've prefer her original group of Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chizuru instead of these guys who looked dreadful.

"Welcome to Para Para Karaoke!" Nel-chan squealed. (Please refer to episode two for the first reference of the karaoke store.)

Orihime added, towards the camera, "Event karaoke to commence! Arrancar High versus Karakura High! Yay, this will be fun! Heheh, we get to hear Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun sing!" The two said guys blushed in embarrassment.

"This is stupid!" Ichigo groaned.

"Yeah, I'm takin' berry-baka's side this time," Grimmjow grumbled.

Uryuu said, "I refuse!"

Right after that, a phone rang, and it turned out to be Orihime's phone. "Hello?" she started, and that was all she could get through before gulping and sweating. After she hung up, she nervously looked at Ichigo and Uryuu, "Um that was Sarugaki-kaichou. She said you better participate. If anyone refuses, it's a default win for Arrancar and um, ultimate punishment for the losers, courtesy of Sarugaki-kaichou..."

So, that settled the final decision for them...

* * *

A special VIP room had been reserved for the special occasion, so the group piled in there, and also in that particular room, there was a unique karaoke machine that would rate the person's or persons' singing. It was so convenient that it couldn't be rigged at all! Right? There was no chance of cheating, right?!

"Fuck that!" Grimmjow yelled, "Let's get this damn thing over with!"

Starrk agreed with a yawn. "My lunch nap is in two hours," he announced, "Ojou-san is free to join me."

"Like hell she will!" Ichigo spat back.

"I can speak for myself, Kurosaki!"

"It is settled," Ulquiorra deadpanned, "the woman is ours when we win."

"..."

Starrk grinned while Grimmjow laughed at their speechlessness. Neither openly cared about the prize, but it was an added bonus to winning and burying their rival school on their own grounds. It was also entertaining how any threat to the girl would warrant some insane outbursts from the overprotective teammates - definitely fun times for the future.

"The battle has turned up a notch, and it hasn't even started yet!" Orihime cried, "Not only is winning a matter of pride, but now Kuchiki-san's fate is at stake!"

Ichigo growled at the ridiculousness of the whole battle. He looked over at Rukia, who was seriously prepared for war, and knew he had to do everything he could to protect her, because she was... a girl... and his classmate, that was all!

"Che, you can't just claim the spotlight, Kurosaki," Uryuu said irritatingly, moving to Ichigo's side. He wasn't going to stay in Ichigo's shadow forever! He would graduate from being number two, and this event would do just that for him!

"Let us begin!" Nel-chan cheered.

* * *

**Round One.** Uryuu. "Cherry" by Spitz. Score: 83.

"Pfffth, *laughs* is this your theme song, Ishida?!" (Ichigo)

"..." (Uryuu)

"I... can see Ishida-kun playing the guitar." (Rukia)

"That's a good score, Ishida-kun! A great start for Karakura High!" (Orihime)

**Round Two.** Starrk. "Memeshikute" by Golden Bomber. Score: 86.

"You think he enjoyed that a bit too much?" (Uryuu)

"AHAHAHAHA!" (Ichigo & Grimmjow)

"Wai! Starrk-kun! You need to dance too!" (Nel-chan)

"It only rates your singing, so dancing doesn't matter." (Orihime)

**Round Three.** Ichigo. "Rising Sun" by EXILE. Score: 45.

"WHAT THE HELL?! The thing's broken!" (Ichigo)

"That's terrible, Kurosaki." (Uryuu)

"Yeah, you suck ass. *snorts*" (Grimmjow)

"Kurosaki-kun! I think you did great! I... *blush* love... *blush more* it!" (Orihime)

"Tone deaf." (Rukia)

"Shut it, Midget-UGH... *writhing in pain*" (Ichigo)

"Aaah, Kurosaki-kun, are you okay?!" (Orihime)

**Round Four.** Grimmjow. "Heavy Rotation" by AKB48. Score: 0.

"..." (Everyone but Grimmjow)

"Fuck it." (Grimmjow of course)

**Round Five.** Rukia. "Zankoku na Tenshi no Thesis" by Yoko Takahashi. Score: 94.

"Kuchiki-san, that was impressive." (Uryuu)

"..." (The rest of the boys)

"Ah, Kuchiki-san is secretly an Eva fan!" (Orihime)

"There is nothing a Kuchiki can't do." (Rukia)

**Round Six.** Ulquiorra. "Ai no Uta" by Kumi Koda. Score: 98.

"What the fuck, Ulquiorra!" (Grimmjow)

"That... was so beautiful, Schiffer-san! *sniffles*" (Orihime)

"Waai, Nel-chan thinks so too!" (Nel-chan, who else)

"I was deeply moved." (Rukia)

"You are willing to be my muse...?" (Ulquiorra)

"HELL NO!" (Ichigo & Uryuu)

**Round Seven.** Ichigo & Uryuu. "Eiko no Kakehashi" by Yuzu. Score: 76.

"Dammit, why'd we get this song?!" (Ichigo)

"Why'd I have to sing with Kurosaki?! He brought my skills down!" (Uryuu)

"What the hell?! You screwed up that middle part!" (Ichigo)

"You were off key coming in after the second verse!" (Uryuu)

"Will you GIRLS shut the fuck up!" (Grimmjow)

**Round Eight.** Ulquiorra & Starrk. "Hana" by Orange Range. Score: 97.

"So the one without talent is just Grimmjow. *snickers*" (Ichigo)

"Shut the fuck up!" (Grimmjow)

"You're tone deaf, Kurosaki-kun." (Rukia)

"At least I got a damn score!" (Ichigo)

"Fuck this! Let's take this shit outside!" (Grimmjow)

"Grimmjow! You can't do that! Or else... Aizen-sama will punish you!" (Nel-chan)

"Fuck." (Grimmjow)

**Round Nine.** Ichigo & Rukia. "Touch" by Yoshimi Iwasaki. Score: 40.

"..." (Rukia)

"Rukia-chan..." (Nel-chan)

"Kuchiki-san..." (Orihime)

"Oi oi, Kuchiki... S-sorry... just don't cry! It's not the end of the world!" (Ichigo)

"You... totally... suck! *glares*" (Rukia)

"Hm, we need 58 points to win." (Starrk)

"Nel-chan wonder if Grimm-kun could do this now? Hmm?!" (Nel-chan)

"AHAHA! *laughs* Just do what you did last time! HAHA!" (Ichigo)

"Don't mess it up, trash." (Ulquiorra)

"Please DO mess it up." (Uryuu)

"I hate all of you." (Grimmjow)

"Good luck, Jeagerjaques-san." (Rukia)

"I don't hate you." (Grimmjow to Rukia)

**Round Ten.** Grimmjow & Ulquiorra. "Gee" by Shoujo Jidai. Score: 50.

"Fuckfuckfuck!" (Grimmjow)

"Thank god! We won!" (Ichigo)

"We lost because of trash like you." (Ulquiorra to Grimmjow)

"Shut it, dammit!" (Grimmjow)

"Karakura High won the karaoke battle by seven points!" (Orihime)

* * *

After the event, the group stood outside the building in awkward silence, but Rukia, who had been taught good sportsmanship, walked over to the Arrancar High School students and bowed. "Thank you for a worthy battle," she spoke sincerely, "It was a close match, and I've come to accept your potential! I look forward to our future rivalry! I will await on the battlefie-"

She was interrupted by Ichigo, who hooked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her away from them.

"You don't have to say so many words to them!" he grumbled.

"This isn't fuckin' over, Kurosaki!" Grimmjow barked after them. Ulquiorra had already crossed the road, leaving his classmates behind since he was in a very sour mood from losing. He was so close to getting his perfect muse, but that stupid, talent-less trash by the name of Grimmjow ruined it all, so now he had to come up with a plan to reach his- no, Aizen-sama's goal.

Nel-chan waved her new friends from Karakura High School farewell, with her energetic, cheerful smile. Starrk suddenly dropped his head on her shoulder and draped his arm over her other one, sighing, "Let's take that nap, Nel-chan!"

Rukia, after elbowing Ichigo in his stomach, was now detached from the said guy and walked on her own, lingering a bit in the back from her classmates. Chad was up front while Orihime was talking vibrantly with Uryuu about the karaoke battle, and the normally composed, reserved boy was, for once, flustering with embarrassment in the girl's presence - which Rukia found very suspicious and made a mental note of it.

Ichigo was walking in front of her, sulking and nursing his injured stomach, but he periodically glanced back at the slow-paced Rukia.

"Oi, Kuchiki, hurry up or we'll leave you behind," he told her.

She responded with a glare but couldn't add in any words because her shinigami badge started to beep. She stopped and pulled it out to look at the object. The location was in the opposition direction, north of the karaoke store too.

"Kuchiki?" Ichigo called to her and turned around to see her frozen in one spot, "Rukia? What are you doing?"

After pondering over her choices, she finally made her decision and looked at him, "I forgot something. I need to go back. I'll meet you guys back at school." With those words said, she darted back in the direction they had come from, leaving a speechless Ichigo frowning after her.

* * *

**Next episode, Deja Vu for You! Adversaries Among Friends!**

**Notes:** I apologize for the late update. I had terrible writer's block and had to rewrite the battle at least three times. At first, I couldn't decide upon the event and had thought about a physical fight, but that would reveal Rukia to the public too much, so karaoke was the next best thing.

The songs I used can be easily found on youtube, and I tried to fit them to each person... while others were just a joke... *coughs* Grimm-chan, heh.

The ending was abrupt too. There was supposed to be a hollow attack that Rukia actually deals with near the end in the original outline, which also had involved Kisuke & Yoruichi, but I'll use that for another time. Another missing scene was Aizen in here, but I can shove him into next episode. *crosses fingers*

I'd like to also thank you for the nice reviews! I'll do my best to get more written. I have another Rukia-centric plot and maybe a GrimmRuki/UlquiRuki in the works. Thank you so much again! ~kuro


	6. Deja Vu for You!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Six: Deja Vu for You! Adversaries Among Friends!**

It was a strangely quiet evening for a Friday, on the Kuchiki estate, not that it wasn't a welcoming change as of late, but it was not normal. The air shifted, and the atmosphere cooled as the lingering daylight disappeared beyond the horizon. Half the household had left to enjoy the weekend while the other had just finished dinner and were soon to either get to bed or start the rounds on guard duty.

On this particular night, one former head was returning from his meditation period in the private gardens of his bedroom, but instead of entering his chambers, he took the side exit, on the stone pathway, and began another walk around the manor. Ginrei had his own wing on the estate and enjoyed the privacy it gave him, every now and then, but he missed his grandchildren too.

With Byakuya often away, he only had Rukia to dote upon - as if his grandson would allow such things as being pampered to exist within his line of vision. Even now, the said girl was taking just as much, as her brother, on her plate too, which Ginrei could have stopped but who could say no to their only sweet, adorable granddaughter?!

How did a once feared and respected yakuza head fall from grace before a petite girl that could still be thrown into the air and caught with tiny, cheerful giggles?!

Too bad Rukia was now sixteen, because Ginrei was sad he couldn't do those activities with her again... and soon, she would start dating... graduate from high school, go to college and date some more... get a job, and eventually get married and have lots of babies... lots of great-grandbabies!

Crap, his grandfatherly eyes had that... twinkle of evilness.

Ginrei had stopped walking, just before he started plotting in his head, and stood in front of Rukia's bedroom down a different wing of the manor. He rapped softly on the door, but he received no response. After calling her name too, silence still greeted him, so he slid the screen softly aside and entered, noting the faint lighting of the large room... and the large collection of rabbits on the adjacent wall. He chuckled at the sight, because he was one of the three guilty of contributing to her obsession.

He walked over to the desk, with the light source, and was slightly startled at the owner of the room sprawled over her desktop, more specifically over her schoolwork. He smiled, and the features of his aged face softened at the sight of his granddaughter in such a peaceful slumber, probably due to all the recent activities.

He then took a small blanket from the closet and placed it on her shoulders, not wanting to disturb her but also wanting to keep her warm. After a few moments, he gently patted her head and whispered a good night before leaving... only to have Rukia, in her shinigami form, entering the room through the window in a foul mood. She had a few cuts here and there, and her uniform was in disarray, but that was all Kisuke's fault.

And here she thought she went through a ton of training during her childhood, but the shinigami training was something else. It was ten times as bad and put quite a strain on her spirit - which was probably why it was so difficult to begin with. She sighed and walked over to her body so she could finish her homework and get the weekend free to spend with her friends. With that thought, it brought her into a brighter mood, but she was soon surprised to find a blanket covering her small form on her desk.

* * *

"Repairs are under way in central Karakura since three days ago... Major destruction hit Shiro Shiro shopping district on late Wednesday evening... No deaths, but thirteen casualties due to indirect debris... Police are still investigating the unknown attack and further information have yet to be released... We have collected several clips of the incident from various sources..."

A focused Shuuhei watched the evening news intently, only to reach over to the bowl of chips for a snack without removing his eyes from the television screen. When did things get so crazy in Karakura all of a sudden? It was like they were in some sort of action movie, right?! These things did not happen in chick flicks at least...

"Yo Hisagi, gimme a hand here!" came Renji's voice from behind the shoji screen door, so it forced Shuuhei to get up from his comfortable seat to open the door. The red-head entered the common room with his arms full of Chinese takeout and two six-packs of beers.

Shuuhei grinned and reseated himself, leaving Renji with his arms still full glaring at his way too relaxed friend. "Didn't think you were the type to celebrate these things," he commented, turning back to the television, slightly disappointed he missed most of the clips of destruction caught on several mobile phones.

Renji placed the food and beer on top of the table and sat down too, asking for clarification, "What things? ... Ya mean like how we survive another week with Rukia, then hell yeah!" After grabbing what he wanted and opening a beer, he looked at the television just in time to see the corner of the building, "What kinda movie is this?"

He glared at the guy and his lack of subtly, "Ren, it's the news."

"What the hell?!" he stopped the bottle an inch from his lips and put it down, "This happened... where? In Karakura?!"

"Yeah, you know when we passed by Shiro Shiro area on Thursday..."

"Oh shit, I thought it was a yakuza turf war!"

"..."

* * *

Rukia never thought she would look forward to the day where she could spend time with friends, and it made her happy, all smiles and tingly with warmth inside. This was that nice feeling people felt when they formed bonds of friendship and togetherness, which was required for being normal - according to Rukia and her ways of thinking.

The girl was practically giddy with excitement when she woke up early that morning and kicked out all the kitchen helpers from the culinary zone. Everyone had been forbidden to enter when she was cooking or rather making onigiri lunches to share with her friends, whom she was later to meet that afternoon.

Some time later but still during that morning time, Shuuhei made it first to the kitchen after a long night drinking with Renji, even though he would've preferred a date with his girlfriend but she was busy, and saw Rukia working hard... and that surprised him. He couldn't remember the last time the girl was anywhere near said location unless sneaking in a snack. She had been so focused on shaping the onigiri that she didn't even realize someone had broken her commandment.

"Uh, you need help Rukia?"

"Gyah-!"

Startled, the onigiri she held flew out of her hands, over her head, and smacked in Shuuhei's face. He deserved that, for disturbing her concentration because when it came to culinary activities, Rukia needed all the focus she could afford on it... because no one wanted to rebuild the kitchen again.

She turned to him and glared, as Shuuhei picked up the giant onigiri that had fallen to the ground after hitting him and looked at it. She sighed and declined his offer, "I want to do my best for my friends." She then returned to making the next onigiri while the young man was still preoccupied with the one in his hand.

"Um, I don't think it needs to be this huge. I mean, you could feed two people with just your one..."

He threw it in the trash and walked over to the counter to inspect the rest of her work, and he nearly faltered at the odd shapes and sizes of each one and definitely tried not to laugh. When Rukia glanced at him for a second, he immediately hid his chuckles by looking away, but that was all ruined when a slightly hungover Renji entered, still sleepy eyed and trying to rub the drowsiness away.

"Morning," he mumbled and strolled by the other two, without bothering to give the situation in the kitchen a thorough inquiry. As if he had a sixth sense with food, his hand reached out and snatched a cube-looking onigiri. Before Rukia could hit him and grab her food back, he took a big bite into the giant ball of rice... only to drop it on the ground a second later. He ran to the refrigerator and downed a bottle of water, or two.

He so deserved that 'poisonous' onigiri.

"What the hell was that?!" he finally spluttered out.

Rukia fumed and kicked his shin, huffing out, "Ren no baka! No more eating, these are for my friends!"

"Oh gods," he groaned, "are you sure they're your friends, and not enemies you're trying to kill?!"

Shuuhei laughed, "He has a point. What are you putting in them anyway?"

The girl furrowed her brows confusingly, "Tuna, salmon, shrimp, pickled plums, you know... the usual it says to put. Oh yeah, I put wasabi in all of them too."

The two men moaned in pain at the mention of wasabi, and Shuuhei spoke up, "Rukia... we know you have a fondness for wasabi, but it doesn't need to be added to everything, you know."

"Heh, wasabi queen," Renji muttered.

Unfortunately, Rukia had heard it and was ready to stuff his mouth with globs of wasabi, but the presence of Ginrei had saved the poor guy from further sadistic punishments. The trio quickly greeted the elder of the household, and he then said to his granddaughter, "Don't worry, Rukia, I'm just here for my morning tea."

"Ah! I'm sorry, ojii-sama!" she apologized, "I didn't mean to... I just wanted to make these without being interrupted, but it happened anyway." She glared at the two lieutenants, but the old man had waved it off as nothing.

"So, you'll be with your friends today?" he inquired.

She nodded, "Yes, they invited me to a cherry blossom viewing lunch. At Karakura Park."

"I see..."

He seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, when Rukia looked worried and asked, "Um, ojii-sama... are you okay with it? You look troubled."

"Ah, no. It's just the men were looking forward to spending the viewing with you."

Rukia finally understood and felt guilty. It had always been their clan traditional to celebrate the holidays together, and now with her having friends outside the clan, she would spend more time with them, but she loved her family too.

A few of the yakuza members entered the kitchen, bowing slightly next to Ginrei, and one of the men stepped up to Rukia with a box and gave it to her. She opened the lid to find a kimono of grandeur that only a leader among leaders could wear. The black kimono, held up for all to see, had the god of war in a battle stance on the front, wrapping towards the lower back of the fabric, with a spread of red-pink hues of cherry blossoms in the background.

Rukia nervously accepted and placed the kimono back in the box. She turned to the men with a grateful smile, but before she could even thank them, the same man who offered the gift on the men's behalf told her, "Ojou-sama, we understand that you will be with your friends this year, so please don't worry. We really do understand."

They nodded in affirmation, but she could see the hint of sadness in their eyes.

"Everyone," she smiled, looking at them with a soft expression, "I want to celebrate the festival with you too... so I promise we will do just that. I'll return this evening to be with everyone, my family! And wear this kimono just for you!"

So touched by their young mistress, some began bawling like babies while others knelt to the ground and worshipped her. As awkward as the situation became, Ginrei still took this chance to get in a snapshot of Rukia and her family, her dysfunctional yakuza family.

* * *

Rukia had arrived a bit early at Karakura Park, carrying a huge backpack of the onigiri lunches which was half her size, but she didn't look like she struggled with the added weight to her small persona. Renji and Shuuhei had offered to carry it for her, but she refused to have them accompany her when their yakuza appearances of tattoos and scowls would scare away her friends. It was bad enough Renji worked at her school, which she had been trying to avoid conversing with him in said place.

She had been lost in thought when a hand fell on her head, ruffling up her neat hair, and when she turned to the culprit, she was met with Ichigo's grin. She glared at him for treating her like a child and tried to swat his hand away.

"And here I thought some kid got lost from her parents," he laughed and dodged a kick from her, but the weight on her back slowed her movements just a tad.

"Ah, Inoue and Ishida are kissing!" she pointed over his shoulder, forcing him to look at the unexpected news.

Ichigo always knew his classmate, Uryuu, had a slight crush on the busty girl, but the guy was too shy and reserved for his own good. Maybe the smarty pants got some guts to ask the girl out now, since they've known each other since junior high after all. If he caught them in the act, he could tease his 'frienemy' or whatever the trendy term was for the rest of his life.

But he found out the hard way that it was only Rukia's ploy to distract him so she could gut him in the stomach as punishment.

"Dammit, Kuchiki," he grunted out, keeling over in a heap on the ground, "why ya have to be so violent?! Can't you just be a normal girl?!"

She froze at those words and suddenly felt ashamed for her actions. When he didn't hear her retort, he sneaked a glance up over to her and was shaken by the shock in her eyes, hiding a bit of sadness. Now, he felt guilty for causing such an expression to adorn her pretty face. She really did look like a lost, lonely child like that, and he sighed, knowing he had to fix it somehow.

"Sorry," he said quietly, now squatting on the ground in front of her, but he was gazing off to the side when she finally looked down to him. His orange mop of hair covered the top of his face, so she couldn't see his eyes or how sincere his apology was. "You're fine just the way you are," he managed something barely comprehensible in his grumbling voice, "even if you're bossy, violent, rude..."

She laughed, "Kurosaki, if that's how you pick up girls, it's no wonder you're girlfriend-less."

His face flushed red, and he immediately stood up, towering over her laughing form. "Look here, you midget!" he tugged on her cheeks, "I was tryin' to be nice, but why do you always have to turn around and insult me? You want a war or somethin'?!"

She grabbed his hands, trying to pry them from her face, but he had a good grip on her cheeks, and the more she pulled at his hands, the more his tugging hurt her face. "Kuroshaki, shtop chtuggin' mah facshe!" she glared, and all he could do was keep at it and laugh because she just looked funny.

This went on for a few more minutes till their friends finally arrived, and it was Uryuu who coughed to get their attention. Orihime had watched the pair intently, so much that Rukia thought there was a hole in her head, and the latter also noticed a slightly sad expression from the girl when she stole a gaze towards Ichigo. These little glances and words all seemed so familiar, but Rukia couldn't quite put it all together. Ah well, she could figure it out another day.

Today, she would just learn to enjoy it with others dear to her. She followed her friends to find a good spot to have lunch but soon realized how crowded the park had become. It seemed like everyone in Karakura decided to come to this particular park for a picnic.

Rukia looked around for a while and eventually found a hidden area beyond a group of trees. She hurried to call her friends over and made a dash for the spot in case someone else wanted to claim it too, only to blindly bump into something. Someone for that matter since the grunt sound came from the person, "Oi watch it, brat."

She was knocked off her feet, thanks to the huge backpack that dragged her to the ground onto her bottom. She glanced up to meet the face of a lofty Grimmjow frowning down at her. He then bent over and tucked both hands under each of her armpits and lifted her easily from the dirt. She just blinked at his rather kind gesture, "Thanks."

When her friends finally caught up to him, Ichigo nearly got defensive, seeing who was present, and Grimmjow was quickly joined by his group too, consisting of the regular faces of previous seen entourage of his. After seeing the furious look in Ichigo's eyes, Grimmjow smirked, taking his hands from Rukia's person, and began dusting off the cute yellow sundress she was with false care. The former took the bait and grabbed Rukia by the shoulders, pulling her back towards their sane group of non-Arrancar students.

"Oi ya dumb berry!" Grimmjow growled and caught her wrists and tried to tug her back towards him, "Don't be so rough with the chick!"

A Rukia tug of war ensued between the bickering boys, until Tatsuki and Tia hit their respective friends' heads. In the meantime, Uryuu was glaring at Ulquiorra and the others and asked them, "What are you doing here?" Nevermind that he barely got along with Ichigo, and he, himself, was present at their get together too - one could thank a puppy-eyed Orihime for that though.

"We came to see the blossoms too!" Nel-chan chirped, fluffing out the blanket over the ground, and laid it down.

"Hey that's our spot!" Ichigo blurted out, after successfully acquiring Rukia back to his side by stepping on Grimmjow's foot and drilling it into the ground since his hands were full with said girl, who now seemed to look smothered in his possessive embrace.

"Like hell! I found it first!" Grimmjow yelled.

"Rukia did!"

Everyone went silent when Ichigo screamed out her name, her first name. He still hadn't realized the slip of his tongue, so Rukia elbowed him in the ribs, causing him to release her, and she stepped away from him to drop her backpack to the ground.

"When did you two get so familiar?" Starrk chuckled, leaning against a cherry blossom tree, ready for a nap.

"We're not!" Ichigo quickly denied, after realizing his earlier mistake, "And we're also not sharing this spot with you guys!"

"What's wrong with sharing, Kurosaki?" Rukia asked, frowning at his childish behavior. "I don't see any harm in it. And besides, everyone seems to agree."

The two looked around, and lo and behold, both groups had already intermingled. Orihime unpacked the mysterious lunch boxes she brought along while Nel-chan watched with eagerness to exchange recipes. Chad, with crossed legs, had joined a snoring Starrk in agreeable tranquility. Uryuu was still glaring at Ulquiorra, who was completely oblivious of the animosity and stared blankly into the blue skies. Grimmjow, still upset, snatched one of Nel-chan's boxes and started to eat. The others had involved themselves in mindless chatter, forcing a still annoyed Ichigo to join his friends.

Rukia smiled triumphantly at Ichigo's surrender and was about to unpack her own food when two arms wrapped around her small person and pulled her into a tight hug. She squealed in surprise, and everyone looked in her direction to find a stranger embracing the girl.

Ichigo got to his feet in a second, followed by Grimmjow who dropped his lunch aside, to punch the man off Rukia. He ducked the two fists and managed to move behind the two and kicked them both to the ground, face first. He laughed and enjoyed his time swinging Rukia around, but stopped his chuckles when her head smashed into his chin, forcing him to finally let her go. He bent over the ground, nursing his wounded chin, while she glared at him.

"Urahara-san, please behave yourself."

"You know this weirdo, Kuchiki-san?" Uryuu questioned, looking at the man in disgust.

"Unfortunately," she nodded.

Kisuke sulked, "You break my heart, Rukia-chan!"

Yoruichi appeared out of nowhere and rubbed her face against Rukia's leg as a friendly greeting and a wordless apology for bringing Kisuke along. The girl smiled at the presence of her feline friend and picked her up, closer to her face, and whispered, "What are you two doing here?"

"There's a possible hollow attack," she mumbled just audible enough for her to hear, "With this many people around, there's been a fluctuation of reiastu."

She was about to say something when she noticed Kisuke sitting next to her and staring at her, and his actions only taunted Ichigo, who pushed himself in between the two to separate the lecherous man from the school girl.

"What's your relation with Kuchiki anyway?" the scowling Ichigo questioned the strange man.

Kisuke chuckled behind his folding fan, eyeing the boy curiously, "I should ask you the same question, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo looked surprised briefly, wondering how the stranger knew his name when he didn't give it, and then narrowed his eyes at the suspicious, old man. Maybe he really was Rukia's stalker!

On the other hand, Grimmjow was staring at Rukia or at least in her general area. Her brows dipped into confusion, staring right back at him, and she asked, "What is it?" Since her young charge's attention was elsewhere, Yoruichi looked at the young man to find him eyeing her with a frightening face, like he was straining himself - or constipated, she thought.

He resisted the urge to reach over and pet the fur ball, inwardly cursing his weakness for cute kitties, so instead, he conversed lamely with Rukia, "Er, you like cats?"

She blinked at his rather random question, "Oh, sure. I guess."

To spare her from a torturous conversation, people started to scream in the distance, and the earth exploded into the air, sending dirt and debris all over the place. Various shouts of alien attacks or haunted holy grounds floated in between the escaping crowds, and the group of youngsters began doing the same. The guys, being such gentlemen, aided the girls out of the park, and that was when Ichigo noticed Rukia was nowhere to be found.

"Kurosaki-kun! Hurry!" Orihime insisted, worried for his well being.

"Have you seen Rukia?!" he yelled, but she shook her head. "I'll go find her!"

He ran off before she could stop him, "Kurosaki-kun!"

* * *

At the first inkling of something gone wrong, Kisuke had signaled to Yoruichi to prepare Rukia to make an escape, and when they heard the first cries from the crowds, he used it as a distraction to take Rukia to a safer, hidden spot. She regretfully informed them that she had left the shinigami badge at home, thinking she wouldn't have to use it today.

"Don't worry," Kisuke smiled, "I've got you covered." And with those words, his cane appeared in his hand - from thin air it seemed - and he tapped the end to her forehead, and her soul popped out of her body, ready to exterminate some hollows. He caught her body before she fell to the ground and carried her like a princess in his arms. He was grinning the whole time, even when she gave him the cold glare, silently warning him that he better not do anything funny.

"Rukia-chan," he laughed nervously, "I'm not that type to pick on defenseless girls."

She gave him one last look before running off towards the destruction, with Yoruichi on her trail. Kisuke, still wearing the playful grin, gazed down at the girl in his arms, "My my, what a hand full you are, princess."

* * *

It felt like he was reliving the nightmare again, running into these giant, hideous creatures, and he couldn't do a single thing against them. Ichigo knew he had seen these monsters somewhere before but couldn't pinpoint where or how, though his first priority would be to find Rukia, wherever that trouble magnet was. If she was smart, she would've been gone from the danger zone by now, but he had that terrible feeling that he would find her in the middle of the mess.

Deja vu, was it?

He ducked in between the trees, brushing by other people fleeing, while trying to help those who had fallen behind too. Through the many crowds, he couldn't find that short girl among them and began to worry until he saw a crystallized haze in the far distance, towards the eastern side of the park. As he neared the area curiously, he felt the drop in temperature dramatically.

The ground shook, and he stumbled to the dirt. When he gathered himself again, he looked up and caught a glimpse of a black shadow zipping through the tree tops, towards one of the monsters. There were three of them total, and all against one small being that appeared vaguely familiar, but from his distant spot, his squinting couldn't make out the face of the black shihakusho-clad person.

* * *

The three hollows were all attacking at once, not letting Rukia get anywhere near the white masks each adorned on its head. She was struggling this time since she had been used to dealing with only one, but she had to come up with a plan before they tire her out from all the running and evading.

She blocked an arm and jumped back, then leaping to the right, she slashed her blade at the arm of a different hollow. The contact of the white zanpakuto upon the white skin formed ice along the limb, leaving it temporarily immobile. She quickly moved in between them and ended up behind the hollows, which gave her time for her attack.

Holding her sword at arms length, she commanded her zanpakuto, "Mae, Sode no-!"

A sudden rush of reiatsu blasted into her, knocking her into the distance. The three had combined their spiritual pressure against her, since they couldn't match her speed, and while she was down, one of the three started to glow red. More specifically, a sphere of red light appeared in front of its face, increasing size and energy. Within seconds, its mouth opened, the light shot into a beam directly at Rukia.

She stared wide eyed at the amount of reiatsu aiming right at her, paralyzed from shock, but she could still hear someone calling her name from far away. It sounded so familiar to her, because she heard the voice on a daily basis.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo kept shouting her name, running towards her. He had been getting dangerously closer to the area, when he ought to be doing the opposite, and when he was near, he was horrified to see Rukia in the middle of the battle. He ran as fast as he could to her, not caring if he couldn't do anything at all, but he had to save her, somehow.

The area was enveloped in the red light, blinding Ichigo in his place, and he cried out her name, defeated by his own helplessness.

* * *

Rukia could feel her heart still beating and her lungs gasping for air, and when her eyes snapped open, she could see she was still alive despite that powerful attack that was certain to end her life in that one moment. Not understanding what had just happened, she looked up when someone called her name.

"Rukia-chan..."

She saw Kisuke standing protectively in front of her, in his shinigami form with his zanpakuto, Benihime. He had stopped the attack with his own defensive move, saving her life, and her eyes twinkled, envisioning him in a whole new light. Without that bucket hat covering half his face, making him appear like a creepy, old man, he was actually physically appealing for once.

He glanced over his shoulder to her with a smile, "Won't you give me a suitable reward after this?"

Nevermind, he was still the same lecherous, ramen shop owner.

"Thank you, Urahara-san," she sighed and stood up.

"Thank me after. I'll give you a hand this time, but you really do need more training."

With a flick of his blade towards the sky, a red arc sliced through the air towards the hollow that fired the beam and cut the creature, including the mask, in half from top to bottom. He then sheathed his sword while one of the two hollows disappeared, leaving the rest for Rukia to finish off.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!" she ordered, "Some no mai, tsukishiro!"

The white column of ice shot from the ground and encased one hollow in its cold trap, while Rukia moved quickly to other one, leaping into the air as she avoided its remaining mobile limb, and slashed the mask with a diagonal cut. Finally with the last hollow still within the ice column, she easily severed it with another slice, ending it for good.

When everything disappeared, even the faint reiatsu was gradually fading away too twinkling in the blue sky like falling stars, Rukia breathed a huge sigh of relief. When she woke up that morning, this was the last thing on her mind. She actually had forgotten about that part of her life and felt like a normal girl for once.

She closed her eyes, wondering what in the world she had gotten herself into, and rubbed her temples from an oncoming headache. Suddenly she was bombarded into a tight hug, and when she opened her eyes, she was staring at the form of Ichigo embracing her, "God, Rukia! I thought I had lost you there!"

"Er, Kurosaki? What are you doing?" she frowned, "Why didn't you run away like the others?"

He pulled back to stare at her incredulously, holding her at arms length, "I was looking for you! You had me worried to death!"

"Ah Kurosaki-kun," Kisuke didn't look happy at seeing him there either, "you have a knack for being at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

"The pervert," he glared, "What are you doing here too? And why are you two dressed like this? And just what was all that?!"

"How troublesome," the shop owner sighed and took something from his sleeve as he walked over to Ichigo. He grabbed the young man's mouth and popped in a small pill and forced him to swallow it.

"What the hell?! What did you just give me?!" He tried to cough it up, but it was too late. Within seconds, the young man passed out to the ground and eventually would forget about the last few hours, once again.

Rukia bent over him, poking his cheeks, and wished she had a black, permanent marker to doodle on his face. As if reading her mind, Kisuke offered one to her with a big grin. She accepted with her own mischievous smile and started to draw a moustache on Ichigo's slumbering face. While she had her fun, Yoruichi reappeared, along with Kisuke's physical body carrying Rukia's own.

"Boss!" the supposed Kisuke clone called to his master.

The girl was confused seeing two Kisuke's when one was enough, so the said man still in shinigami form explained, "My body current contains an artificial soul, a modified soul - a mod-soul if you will. It allows me to leave my body while another temporarily takes my place so nothing would be out of the ordinary. It's very useful."

"Right, so why didn't you give me this before?!" she inquired, "It would make being a shinigami easier, without having to stash my 'dead' body somewhere safe!"

"It's still in the testing stages," Yoruichi said, "We started this because we knew you would need it."

She understood hat they were truly helping her, so she nodded in gratefulness and hopped back into her body. The nice, non-perverted Kisuke mod-soul released her on her feet again. And there was something that bugged her mind during the whole time since Kisuke appeared as a shinigami.

"Urahara-san, why do you guys need me if you're a shinigami too?"

"I used to be one," he said. "But I've been retired for decades now."

Yoruichi added, "It's required for all retired shinigami to select a successor. There's only seven months left of preparation though."

Rukia noticed the frown on the feline's face and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Kisuke waved it off nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Rukia-chan. You've got all hat time to find out." He threw an arm around her shoulder, leaning his head on top of hers, "Have I told you how excited I am?! A lot of quality time together!"

She elbowed him in the side, "For training."

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, the news of terrible disasters that had struck Karakura recently hit the international newspapers, only after ranking a million views by internet through various clips. The small town of Karakura was now a worldly hot spot for the current unexplainable, unknown, possible extraterrestrial phenomenon, which would probably die out in a month or so.

It was in Japan after all, more specifically Tokyo, and that city had more strange problems than any other place on earth. If a single day of normalcy existed in the said city, then the world ought to fear for its future because when Tokyo becomes normal, like any other city, then the apocalypse would be at hand.

The edges of the news print crumpled within the young man's grip, and a tiny bead of sweat trickled down the side of his handsome face. The information did not sit well with him, and once again, the familiar, bad feeling stirred in his gut.

Kuchiki Byakuya was worried.

* * *

**Next episode, A Secret Revealed?! Confrontation with the Sword!**

**Notes:** Wow, I did not expect it to be that long. And once again, I sort of rushed through the action. I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with writing action. *sighs* Well it's 7-8 episodes to go till we hit the HitsuRuki episode, lol. Sooorry!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the story so far. Any useful criticism is very welcomed! Thanks! Now off to bed. -kuro


	7. A Secret Revealed!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Seven: A Secret Revealed?! Confrontation with the Sword!**

Ever since the club day fiasco (from episode five), the group of friends at Karakura High began to attend their respective clubs after school, which was everyone's purpose this particular day. The official school day had ended, and everyone prepared to leave for their club activities.

A chipper Orihime left to the cooking club, with Chizuru in tow, wondering what sort of (deadly) recipe to share with her fellow members, while their friend, Tatsuki, hurried to her karate club. Keigo and Mizuiro had already disappeared to their anime club while Uryuu quietly snuck out to the sewing club, leaving Ichigo and Rukia to themselves, who were both in the 'going home' club.

Ichigo stole a few glances towards Rukia, who was getting her things into her school bag, and it had been bugging him since the vague weekend he had. He sort of remember spending Saturday with his friends, but he couldn't recall what exactly took place. According to them and the news, there was a very strange earthquake at he park when scientists couldn't explain exactly why because there were no fault lines in existence along the area.

Though every time he looked at Rukia, there were flashes of odd yet familiar images that he ought to recognize but he just couldn't grasp from where. Maybe it was just a dream, or he was just around her too much.

"Oi Rukia," he started to call her by her first name now, and it rolled off his tongue easily and comfortably, "are you heading home?"

"Ah," she nodded. "And that's Kuchiki to you."

"Pfft, does it matter?" he scoffed, "I'll call you whatever I want." She glared at him and shoved the last book into her bag, as he stood up and walked over to her. "Hey, why didn't you join a club? Figured you'd want to join one like the others."

"Um well, I have much to do... I wouldn't have time," she smiled stiffly, and he picked up on her strange facial expression. She really had too much to do, like her family obligations and definitely shinigami duties, but no one had to know about it, especially Ichigo who had to be brainwashed twice already.

"You know with cram school and all, eheh," she lied through her actress facade that Ichigo knew better than to believe in. "What about you? You're not in one either."

"I have my sisters to take care of."

"Oh, I see."

The two started to leave the building together, and when they reached the school gates, Rukia quickly said her goodbyes and left in the opposite direction with a certain ramen shop destination in mind. That left Ichigo to frown after her, and he wondered what kind of secret she was hiding. The more he thought about her, the more he realized he knew barely a thing about her.

So instead of going home, he went back on to the campus to look for Renji the janitor who was still on the work clock. After fifteen minutes of running around trying to find the red-head, the guy was watering the flowers by the administrative offices.

"Oi Renji!"

"Hrm?" He looked over to the visitor, and when it was just Ichigo, his forehead wrinkled into annoyance, "What do ya want?"

"It's about Rukia."

Renji practically threw the water hose aside and grabbed Ichigo by the shirt collar, "What?! What happened to her? Is she hurt?!"

"God, just chill. She's fine," he pushed the guy away, "She just left."

"Dude, don't give me a heart attack!" He returned to his duties, picking up the hose again to finish the watering. "So, what's this about Rukia?"

"Uh well," he scratched the back of his head, unsure how to phrase his question on wanting to know more about Rukia. He figured since she and Renji were neighbors, he could probably give some insight into her and her life. "Well, I was just curious about her. I mean, she seems friendly at school, but she doesn't hang out with us much outside of it. Is her family overprotective or something?"

Renji stopped everything he was doing, which wasn't much to begin with, and just stared at the guy as if he just opened the gates of hell. He knew it was a terrible idea for Rukia to go to a public school, with all sorts of people like Ichigo wanting to pry into her life. It was just to dangerous for her.

He started to sweat though because he couldn't reveal anything to strangers, so all he could say was, "You could say that." Then he frowned and added, "Kurosaki, it's best you stay away from Rukia. The less you know, the better."

What bad advice, because that only made Ichigo more curious and decisive on finding out the truth, in some other way because Renji wasn't going to spill anything.

* * *

For the next few hours, Rukia had been training at Urahara's shop - well, under the shop. Since she was able to awaken her zanpakuto, she now had to learn to control her reiatsu and use it along side her weapon, but currently standing inside an opaque sphere twice her size, she didn't know where to begin. It didn't help that Kisuke was watching her with that stupid grin of his from the outside.

"Just telling me to fill this thing with reiatsu is rather vague, don't you think?" she glared at him.

He chuckled behind the folding fan, "You'll think of a way. Or else, you're stuck in there. Forever."

"What?!" she pressed her hands against the thin sphere but couldn't budge it at all, almost like smooth plastic against her fingers. "I have a home to return to!"

"Then you should begin."

Rukia began fuming as she felt around the so called bubble trap, wondering how to get her reiatsu started. Those times when she fought the hollows, she only had to use her zanpakuto to defeat them, so how does her spiritual energy factor into this situation.

"While you're at it, I'll start on dinner," he smiled, "It'll be our first dinner date!"

"Like hell!" she shouted after his disappearing form, and another incentive for her to escape the trap as quickly as possible. She couldn't imagine being stuck all night with the crazy man - who knew what sort of devious plans he had in store for her, especially when Yoruichi wasn't around to chaperon. At least if the feline was around, she would've gave her some clue, probably told her concentrate on the problem at hand, instead of the useless shop owner.

"Ah!"

Of course, if it hadn't been Kisuke's fault for distracting her so much, the solution was easy: empty the mind. Everything began by clearing her mind of useless thoughts and distractions and focus on what was important. By doing so, she gathered herself at the center of the sphere and closed her eyes to continue a peaceful mediation. She held her hands in front of her, leaving space in between and palms facing each other, and concentrated on the empty area between her palms.

Focusing on that one physical point, she visualized it in her mind too, and gradually, a faint glow of blue ball appeared and increased in size, becoming an insane amount of spirit energy. It engulfed her within the light, eventually reached the edges of the bubble, but the huge size and enormous energy couldn't be held anymore, pulsating like a heartbeat. In the next second, the thin veil of the sphere expanded as far as it could, and the whole trap exploded in a shower of reiatsu.

Finally free, Rukia's eyes narrowed, and she knew what her next objective was: kick Kisuke's ass.

* * *

A few days later, Rukia managed to get a free day from Kisuke's training and the amount of hollows had been practically nonexistent, as if they were on vacation, not that she mind at all. So on this particular afternoon, with nothing else to do and not a lot of homework was assigned, she thought of a place to visit since she hadn't been there in a while.

Unbeknownst to her, this was also the time that Ichigo, after discussing the Rukia situation with his other friends and coming to an agreement, enacted his plan of stalking her. Even though most of them still had club activities, he managed to rope in the eager Orihime and a semi-curious Uryuu along, and Chad's music club had to cancel their meeting due to the president coming down with food poisoning (from the cooking club).

The group of four students discretely followed their short friend to her secret location, but they weren't as careful as they should be when Rukia, a few times, stopped and turned around. She narrowed her eyes at the empty sidewalk behind her, having sense some familiar reiatsu. She shook her head wearily and wondered if she needed more practice, and even Kisuke said she was improving her control. She didn't have the precision yet, but she could at least focus it to a specific area.

With that positive thought, she continued her journey while her friends sighed in relief at not being discovered. Each had quickly hid behind various spots on the streets: Chad blended behind a tall tree, Orihime crouched behind a potted plant, and Ichigo and Uryuu managed to fall into the shrubbery.

After hopping a quick train to the northeastern district of Karakura, they finally made it to what looked like a dojo and watched from a safe distance as Rukia skipped in happily. It was a rare sight to see a genuine smile on her face, and they look up at the sign: Kenpachi Dojo.

"A kendou dojo?" Uryuu muttered in disbelief.

"Maybe she's visiting a friend?" Orihime suggested.

He nodded, "Of course. I can't imagine Kuchiki-san exerting herself with such a strenuous activity."

For some reason, Ichigo thought otherwise because it just seemed natural to have Rukia wielding a sword, and it was still a mystery as to why he accepted that. To find out for certain, he would have to enter the place, and that was what he did, before the others could stop him. They had no other choice but to follow too, to keep him out of trouble and to satisfy their curiosity.

They were able to sneak inside undetected by anyone, and there didn't seem to be a class in session nor was there anyone else around, which was a bit weird. Farther down the hallway, some noises came from one of the rooms, so they tiptoed over to see what was going on.

Rukia was already in a white gi and a dark blue hakama, awaiting for the bigger, muscular-looking man to give her a shinai to begin practice. He then stepped to the side and watched her begin a series of swings of the bamboo weapon. He appeared pleased and gave a slight nod of approval, and he told her to continue till she finished the set of a hundred.

"Wow, Kuchiki-san looks like a pro," Orihime whispered, amazement in her tone.

"No wonder she's all violent," came the grumble from Ichigo, but he had to admit, to himself only, that he was impressed with her. This was definitely a surprise to him, to all of them, that the midget could do something as disciplined and challenging as kendou.

"I think she should join the kendou club," the girl suggested to the others.

Uryuu nodded, "Then maybe we could beat Arrancar this year." Just the thought of burying their rival school in sports brought a deadly smile to his face. He looked rather frightening and creepy, and Orihime and Chad scooted away from the young man just a tiny bit, for fear of the contagious insanity.

Still in his own thoughts, Ichigo shook his head in slight disbelief but had a faint smile upon his lips. When he turned his focus back on Rukia, he noticed the man was gone from view. "Hey, where's that big guy?" he asked the others, who looked around too.

"Big guy?" came the deep, thunderous voice from behind them.

The four, sweating like pigs, slowly turned their heads around to find the man towering over them, with folded arms over his chest and a sadistic smile. He looked gigantic and intimidating up close and personal, especially with the eye patch over his right eye. He appeared to be staring at Ichigo with a glint of danger in his one visible eye, like he was sizing up his prey, and then with a loud cackle, he kicked them all into the training hall.

It surprised Rukia, who stopped her swing, and an embarrassed Orihime began to explain excitedly to her friend, "We're sorry, Kuchiki-san! We were just worried about you and wanted to make sure you were okay! Please don't feel left out just because you're not in a club! We support you in anything you do!" She clasped Rukia's hand in affirmation of their feelings of friendship for her.

Rukia was deeply moved by the kind gesture and forgave them for stalking her.

"Why do you keep this a secret?" Uryuu inquired, pushing up his glasses, "You should be proud of this."

"Ah well," she started, glancing away with a blush on her face, causing the guys to flush a light pink too because she just looked oh so cute and girly, "I wanted to be a normal girl. And it says all girls are into cooking, flowers, fashion, sewing and other girly things."

Uryuu coughed at the mention of sewing, feeling a bit offended, while Ichigo laughed. Orihime then asked her, "Huh, what says that?"

"You know in books." She made a gesture for them and went out to apparently get something, and when she returned, she showed them her latest volume of _School Daze_ manga. "This one!" she flipped to a specific page, "See here, this tells you of the steps to a successful confession!"

Everyone sweatdropped at her reveal, and after an irritated Ichigo facepalmed, he grabbed the manga from her and bopped her foolish head with it, "This is a terrible reference to reality! It's complete fiction! You've got to be stupid to follow this crap..."

Rukia's violet eyes grew wide and alarmingly pissed at every single word that was leaving Ichigo's mouth, and even their friends could not stop the horrifying event that was about to occur: Rukia maiming Ichigo. But before anything could happen, a shinai hit Ichigo's head, and everyone turned - and some silently thank god - for the man's interruption.

He threw a training outfit to each baffled person and told them, "This is a damn kendou dojo, not some love group therapy shit. If you're gonna be here, then you're here to fight!"

"Zaraki-sensei!" Rukia called, "They're my friends. They're not here to fight."

"I don't give a damn, Kuchiki." His predatory eye flickered over to Ichigo, who suddenly felt dread down his spine, holding the extra shinai in his hands, "But this kid here, I wanna see what he's got."

"Err..." Ichigo was left speechless, rubbing the back of his head. The only martial arts experience he had was a few years of karate from his childhood, but other than that, it was all instincts when he got into fights.

"He looks strong enough," Kenpachi grinned, "If he passes, I'll take him on as a disciple."

"I refuse," came Ichigo's quick reply. He wasn't going to be anyone's lackey, much less this psychotic-looking brute of a teacher.

Rukia smacked the back of his head with her shinai - returning the earlier favor when he hit her with the manga - and told him, "It's an honor to be Zaraki-sensei's student!"

"I don't care! And stop hitting me with that thing!"

"I'll hit you if I want to!"

"Look here, midg-!"

She smacked him again.

"I told you to stop it!"

"That was for disrespecting sensei!"

She swung at him again, but this time, he blocked it with his shinai. It was a bad move on his part because he had just started a free for all match against Rukia, which Kenpachi had been hoping for. The man cackled to his heart's content at the display of violence, while the others watched on in fascination and horror. He couldn't remember the last time his only female student had been so worked up before and lost all rationality - the way he enjoyed it.

Rukia looked like a wild animal out there, on the offensive against Ichigo who could only block and evade her swings. Each swing was powerful and precise, and no one would be able to tell from just watching unless one was an experienced swordsman. Very few opponents could even keep up with Rukia too, so Ichigo in his defensive state was holding very well against her, but probably wouldn't last that much longer with lack of training.

Surprisingly to her, Ichigo guarded against all of her attacks, but she wouldn't rest until she scored the winning point. Luck was on her side when she spotted a slip up in his footing, she stepped forward with a stomp, and every muscle in her upper body prepared to thrust the tip of the shinai towards her opponent's chest. In mere seconds before making contact, her weapon froze in the air, only hold in place by Kenpachi's hand on her wrist, and Ichigo stared at the tip, dangerously an inch from the base of his neck.

"Kuchiki, you're out of control," the man warned. Rukia realized what she had almost done, almost causing harm to one of her friends. She bowed her head low and apologized to Ichigo, who still seemed dazed from the situation. Kenpachi didn't stop there and ordered her, "Five hundred swings for your punishment."

She nodded, understanding that her action was inexcusable, and walked over to an isolated area of the room and began her swings.

"Hey wait a minute," Ichigo started, "Isn't that unreasonable?!"

Kenpachi laughed, "Five hundred is nothing!" He wore that menacing grin and slapped the boy's back, almost forcing him face first to the floor, "I like you, kid. You got potential! Starting today, you'll be my third disciple."

"..."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Yoruichi, draped over Rukia's left shoulder, started, "that Ichigo guy followed you to your sensei's dojo and ended up being his student? And now you feel irritated and upset?"

"Well... I guess... just a bit."

"Sounds like you're jealous," she nodded.

Rukia, in her shinigami form, was currently sitting on rooftop of a random house during one of her afternoons of patrolling Karakura from hollows. Nothing out of the ordinary happened to cause any alarm, so now the girl was relaying the events from a few days ago that had been bothering her, but to think that she was jealous of Ichigo was preposterous.

She pouted, "No way! I'm not jealousy of that idiot!"

The feline laughed, "Hey, it's natural to feel that way. Just 'cause your sensei is now focused on him doesn't mean you stopped being his student either."

"I know that," she sighed, "It's weird. I haven't seen Zaraki-sensei that excited since Hitsugaya and I first sparred."

"Hitsugaya? Another friend?"

"Erm, something like that."

That new fact piqued an interest from the cat, who watched the girl turn her face away, but the faint blush of her cheeks did not go unnoticed. Fortunately for Rukia, the shinigami badge went off, and it was time for action. She checked the object and noted the location before hopping off the roof with Yoruichi and making their way to the hollow attack.

Thanks to Yoruichi's training of shunpo, Rukia had become faster at getting to her destinations, and they arrived near a soccer field of a neighborhood park. Yoruichi jumped to the ground and looked up into the clear skies, expecting trouble soon. In the distance, parents and children were gathered for a game, oblivious to the dimensional rip in the sky, not too far off from the large group.

A large, lanky hollow was emerging from the opening, and without any hesitation, the young shinigami made the first move towards the monster. She was not letting the thing set foot into the world if she could help it. In a flash, she appeared right in front of the hollow's mask, surprising it, and brought her blade down, slicing the white covering in half. Within seconds, the hollow and the portal disappeared, and the sky was normal again as if nothing had happened at all.

Rukia regrouped with Yoruichi on the ground. "If only things were that easy," she sighed and picked up the cat into her arms.

"Let's go home," the feline insisted, "I'm looking forward to dinner at the Kuchiki house."

"Me too."

"Kisuke's terrible at cooking."

"So why does he own a ramen shop?!"

"He's an idiot?"

"Did you really say that as a question?"

"..."

They were talking among the trees, shading them from view, not that they were seen anyway since humans couldn't see them unless they were special, like a certain orange-haired, nosy brat who had seen the whole thing. He was part of the crowds at the fields, to watch his little sister's soccer game, but instead found out he really had not been imagining things at all or having weird dreams of Rukia cosplaying.

And now, Ichigo was in shock at having witness Rukia as a heroic monster-beast-thing slayer, or shinigami.

* * *

A new week of school arrived, but not much had changed from the school routine, except for the fact that Rukia finally decided to join a club, with her friends' support. Of course the one club she joined was the kendou club, and the current faculty adviser was their physical education teacher, Muguruma Kensei-sensei. She had filled out an application and submitted the previous week, so now she was attending her first official meeting with her club members.

The school had a small training hall for them that they shared with the karate club, so both clubs alternated days of training and meetings. Rukia was informed they would meet on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Thursdays when they have a tournament that week, which worked out rather well with her schedule of shinigami duties.

Since she had joined the club after the recruitment period, she was told about their first tournament that was fast approaching and held that upcoming Saturday. That was why everyone seemed preoccupied when she arrived to the hall. One of the upperclassmen guided her around the hall and gave her a set of clothes to change in to, so when she was ready, she would begin the daily practicing regiment.

She exited the dressing room, pulling her hair back into a small ponytail, and nearly knocked over a well-dressed man, who was blocking her path. He looked very familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint from where, though there was a glint of recognition in his eyes as he stared at her, suddenly grabbing her hand within his own. He leaned down towards her at eye level, and with a straight face, he asked her, "Do you believe in love at first sight?"

First confused, then thoughtful, she actually answered him, "No, can't say that I do. Why do you ask, oji-san?"

"Uncle?! Do I look that old?!" he huffed in annoyance, before his head was clobbered by Kensei who looked even more irritated.

"Dammit, Shinji, quit scaring the students!" he reprimanded, "You're the principal for god's sakes!"

"Ah, Hirako-kouchou!" she bowed, "I apologize for my disrespect!"

"Relax, Kuchiki," Kensei told her, "He deserves all the disrespect for the crap he's pulled."

"Oooh, so you're Kuchiki Rukia!" He gave her a toothy smile and rubbed his chin with great interest, "It's nice to finally meet you, heh. So, you've decided to help the kendou team out, huh? Maybe we can beat Arrancar this year, and I can shove the trophy up that damn Aizen's a-!"

Kensei grabbed the foul mouth Shinji into a headlock, cutting off the rest of his unnecessary words, while the girl blinked in confusion, not comprehending anything he was talking about - like how he would know about her and her abilities and what was up with him and Arrancar's principal. Perhaps this was the rivalry that was vaguely mentioned before.

"Anyway, Kuchiki," her adviser started, "start your practice with Kuna. She's your senpai, but you're probably on par with her." She nodded and jogged away from the two, and Kensei turned a glare to his old friend, "You know our match with Arrancar is this Saturday."

"Yeah, so?" Shinji watched Rukia exchange a few words with Mashiro, and the two suited up in the _bougu_ set, the required protective armor, with the assistance of others, for a _shiai-geiko_, a competition practice to be scored by the upperclassmen.

"I don't plan to put her on the team."

Shinji, finally freed from Kensei's clutches, glared at him, "Why not? She's a Kuchiki!"

"And a first year student. It wouldn't be fair to the others."

"Oi, I'm the boss here."

"And you're too blinded by beating Aizen."

"Your point being...?"

"This is about the students, not about you and your little rivalry," Kensei snorted, "I bet Aizen doesn't give a damn anymore."

"Oh, he'll give a damn when I smash his head in," he cackled, earning him a very pitiful look from Kensei.

"A TIE!?"

The two men turned to the shouts and realized they had missed the practice during their argument. Both girls were breathing hard while their teammates gathered around them, in awe that Rukia managed to score a point off Mashiro, one of the best kendou students. She was already third seat of the team to compete against Arrancar, and Kensei was dead set on keeping it that way.

Shinji gave a triumphant grin in Kensei's direction, but the latter just shook his head, forcing the blonde to sulk.

* * *

During the whole time Rukia was at the kendou club, Ichigo walked through the school hallways, frustrated from the lack of Rukia interaction since morning. He had been trying to talk to her privately about what he saw the other day when she was fighting the monster in broad daylight, that only he could see apparently. He wanted to confront her about the situation to find out what the hell was going on and tell her how dangerous it was.

But things didn't go his way, when she ignored him to hang out with Orihime and the others, and then the class lectures in between those. At lunch, Keigo was surprisingly adamant about getting Rukia's attention for himself, so there went that time out the window.

There was that one restroom break she excused herself to, and when she disappeared from the room, Ichigo copied the excuse to chase her down, which Ochi-sensei suspiciously eyed him about but dismissed him anyway. But by the time he left the classroom, he looked up and down the empty hallway and wondered where she ran off to so quickly. He ran around the building looking for her in each of the girls' restrooms by calling out to her, not entering the forbidden premises, but that turned up nothing.

He was forced to return to the classroom thirty minutes later to be met by an angry Ochi-sensei, demanding to know what took him so long. Well, talk about embarrassment. Though Rukia did show up an hour later, playing it off as female issues at the nurse's office, which was more understandable, but in reality, it was a hollow extermination. She had returned to her seat casually while completely ignoring Ichigo's frown.

Finally, when the school day ended, Rukia had rushed out of the classroom with Orihime before Ichigo could even call out to her or even run after her because he bumped into Keigo and Mizuiro, who wanted to drag him to their anime club for a movie viewing.

So here was Ichigo, making his way to the cook club Orihime was attending. He entered and immediately looked confused. He walked over to the only girl in the classroom standing behind the counter, focusing on the cookbook in her hands. "Um Inoue, where is everyone?" he asked her, "Did your club get cancelled?"

Orihime blushed, "Kurosaki-kun, no... erm, well, they're all at the nurse's office. Yamada-sensei is taking care of everyone."

Ichigo paled, right away he knew they had eaten one of Orihime's lethal dishes, and was glad he didn't join this club, "I se-see... Ah Inoue, have you seen Rukia? I need to talk to her."

She looked shock for a moment that he was now referring to their classmate intimately by her first name. She was thinking wild thoughts about what this 'need to talk to her' was about, and wondered if this was a confession?! Then her eyes were filled with sadness as she spoke to him, "Kurosaki-kun..." She tried not to sniffled at the wretched pain in her chest.

"What is it, Inoue?!" At seeing the pained look, he panicked and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Did something happen to Rukia?! Inoue, tell me!"

"Ah um, Kuchiki-san, she... she said she was going to her club."

"Club? Which one?"

"Err, I don't know. I forgot to ask." Then it hit her, "Oh! She and Ishida-kun left..." With a quick word of appreciation said, Ichigo was off again to find his target, leaving a sad, sad Orihime to sigh the rest of her sentence, "together, since they were going the same way."

* * *

Next stop, Ichigo managed to drag out an annoyed Uryuu from his sewing club because he had said it was a matter of life and death situation, which he bought for some strange reason. They stood outside the classroom when the manner-less boy questioned him about Rukia's whereabouts.

"What?!" Uryuu shouted, "You interrupted by masterpiece to ask about Kuchiki-san?!"

"Dude, you're just sewing fabric together..."

"You uncouth peasant, how dare you speak of such a wonderful ability! As if you'll ever understand-!"

"So, do you know where Rukia is?" he interrupted the rant.

"Ah, she mentioned something about needing to speak to that Renji guy."

"Thanks, Ishida!"

There he went again, leaving a pissed off Uryuu yelling after him, "You idiot, I'm not done lecturing you!"

* * *

Ichigo ran outside, looking around for ten minutes, till he found Renji the janitor-turned-gardener squatted by one of the floral beds, cleaning the area and pulling out weeds apparently. He looked oddly happy doing his menial job, that didn't make him look like a badass yakuza, and he probably forgot he was technically guarding Rukia from all sorts of danger.

"Hey, Renji."

"Hrm? What is it now? Is it about Rukia again?" he growled, sparing him a quick glance before returning to his adorable flowers, "Didn't I tell you to stay away from her?!"

"What club did she join?"

"What? Club? Oh, the kendou club, why?" When he was met with silence, he turned around to find the spot now lacking Ichigo, who left before he could get another lecture why he should stop pursuing Rukia.

* * *

So finally, Ichigo found Rukia by nearly running her over outside the training hall she was leaving from. He had braked in time before he could create a pile of kendou students on the ground. She opened her mouth, about to demand the reason for his sudden appearance and impulsive behavior, but he had grabbed her by the hand and pulled her away from the club, finding a more suitable private place to speak.

Just as they disappeared from view, a mob of three highly agitated persons which consisted of Orihime, Uryuu and Renji showed up and demanded the whereabouts of Rukia and/or Ichigo. The club members pointed in the direction for fear of their lives and/or sanity, and the trio wasted no time in running after their targets.

But what they found was stunning, as in speechless horror at the sight before them: Ichigo and Rukia stood in front of each, by the side of the gym where the outdoor wash area was, staring into each other's eyes with high tension between them.

"I-is it what I think it is?!" Uryuu gaped at the possibility.

"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime whimpered.

"What the hell?!" Renji was freaking out at this point, "Is this a love confession?!"

The three were standing in the open, watching this display before them, but the pair at the center of attention seemed oblivious from the outside world. A very focused and serious Ichigo, still with his goal in mind of confronting her about her dangerous side job, placed his hands on her shoulders, while Rukia, confused but refused to back down from his challenging stare, stood her ground firmly.

"Rukia..."

"Unacceptable!" the voice boomed over all of them.

All eyes turned to the owner of the voice, who stood angrily behind the nosy trio, and they saw a handsome, young man in business attire with clenched fists by his side and a blank expression, but his bluish gray eyes burned with fury.

"T-taicho!" Renji spluttered, the color in his face drained to paleness.

"Nii-sama!"

Kuchiki Byakuya was pissed.

* * *

**Next episode, Rukia's in Trouble! Pursuit of the Captured Princess!**

**Notes:** Phew, I wasn't sure when I was ending this episode. I have mix feelings on this one. There were times when I smiled during a scene, and others, I just dreaded writing. *sighs* What's done is done. It has the gist of what I wanted: the progression of the Rukia & Ichigo situation to be mistaken by their friends and only to be interrupted by her brother, lol. Woo, Byaku-kun! *hearts*

I apologize for bombarding you with more characters, lol. Zaraki and Shinji, I just love them 'cause they're just funny to write. Well, I hope to put in some Shinji-Hiyori scenes later. And I've decided to combine some of the episodes, so the HitsuRuki episode is getting closer. Like three more to go?!

**And to respond to the lovely reviewers:**

**dethangelx:** Lol, sorry about my pacing. I just want to make sure things go in order and makes sense. Some scenes are necessary while others are for laughs, and I try to make a balance of that.

**EJ:** Yes, I'll be adding Ashido, but he won't be Toushirou's college friend. I've been wanting to add Ashido for a while, but his appearance won't be till later, a bit after Toushirou's, I think. As for Kaien, a former tutor sounds good... I'll have to think about it because I don't want it to be too predictable, heheh. *smiles*

**ArsinoetheXXVII:** Thank you so much for your multiple reviews! It makes me happy that people are enjoying it and I get motivated to write more. Usually, lol. As for Kouga, he's being deceitful... There should be a hint of his plotting in episode 4, I think - just one scene. The subplot will come up later again. *smiles sweetly* I tend to get carried away with AU sometimes, especially when it has humor, lol.

**To everyone else who didn't have questions but reviewed:** Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! It really makes my day when I know you're enjoying it as much as I am. A big thanks again! And hopefully I can get another episode out next weekend. *victory* -kuro


	8. Rukia's in Trouble!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Eight: Rukia's in Trouble! Pursuit of the Captured Princess!**

"Rukia, come. We are leaving."

The command from her brother was final, and she had never dare disobeyed. She brushed Ichigo's hands from her shoulders and proceeded towards her brother, but the young man refused to acknowledge anyone else besides Rukia within his vision. He stared at her as she made her way to his side, but from the corner of his eye, he could see the teenage boy about to make a move for her.

His jaws clenched, and Byakuya was prepared to cut off an arm or two if that brash boy dare take hold of his dear sister. Luckily for Ichigo, Uryuu and Renji managed to hold Ichigo back with the latter warning him, "Dammit, Kurosaki, I told you to stay away from her. You're in deep shit if you do something now, in front of taichou."

Renji gave him a shove back, along with Uryuu, and quickly fell into step behind Rukia, and the three people of the Kuchiki household left the campus without another word.

"Let go, Ishida!" Ichigo struggled out of his friend's grasp, and since he was not thinking at all, Uryuu smacked him across the head with a baseball bat, that happened to be laying nearby, by the gymnasium. "What the hell?!"

"Just calm down for a minute!"

"I have to get Rukia back!"

"Stop it, idiot!" Uryuu proceeded to stomp Ichigo to the ground with his foot, "Will you just listen!"

"There's no time! She's being kidnapped!"

"Idiot! That's her brother! Kuchiki Byakuya, CEO of Kuchiki Corporations and current clan head of the Kuchiki clan!"

"So?" Ichigo glared up at the smarty pants, "That doesn't give him the right to interrupt us and drag her away!"

Uryuu smacked Ichigo a few more times in the head until he angrily yanked the bat away and broke it in half with his bare hands. After the beating, Uryuu was semi-satisfied with pummeling he gave, though he wished had filmed the whole thing to reminisce at a later date.

"Wow, so Kuchiki-san is like rich," Orihime finally spoke up, glad that they were interrupted and no confession occured.

"Well, yes," Uryuu coughed, "I kind of suspected she was related to the clan somehow."

"So what?" Ichigo frowned, "Rukia is Rukia, I don't care if she's rich or if she has an asshole of a brother."

"Kurosaki, you don't get it." He looked serious, so serious that Ichigo wondered if he should be wary of it and the future, "The Kuchiki might be a rich and elite clan, but there's a secret that they're linked to the yakuza or are the yakuza."

"Wait, whaa...?!" he spluttered, "Then how do you know?"

Uryuu grinned smugly, "I just know."

Ichigo frowned, now realizing why she had been trying to hard to fit into the normalcy of their society. She had been trapped in the world of the elite yakuza lifestyle and was trying to escape from it. And here, he was thinking she was being weird and violent for no reason. Now he felt ashamed for not knowing the truth and not helping her.

But it wasn't too late.

He could save her!

* * *

During the car ride home, with Renji sitting in the front with the driver and silently praying that they would come out unscathed from Byakuya's wrath. He had never seen the boss look frightfully murderous before and knew Rukia had really done it this time. The atmosphere in the car was so tense he was about to suffocate from it, and he was already sweating bullets that even the driver had to give him a handkerchief to wipe them away.

Renji stole a glance to the surprisingly calm driver, who had a faint smile, and was jealous at the well-trained composure in such a dangerous environment. Of course he had to be like that because: one, he was in the presence of Byakuya and two, he was driving the damn car. Panic would not help any either cases, or any case for that matter. Renji still had a lot to learn and cursed Shuuhei for being busy.

Meanwhile in the backseat of the car, the siblings remained quiet the whole time. Rukia tried to look calm and demure with her hands together on her lap, trying to not rip her skirt to pieces under the pressure. She wondered how to approach the subject of the past month and a half to her brother, but there really was no way to go about it subtly anymore, not like she had planned when he returned.

His appearance was unexpected, much less showing up at her school. He wasn't set to return home for another two weeks, and that was when she would spend some quality sibling time to ease him into the idea of her being outside the estate, unprotected.

But no, he had to find out the hard way.

"Nii-sama-"

"Not now," he closed his eyes when the tone of his voice silenced her, but inside his mind, he couldn't fathom on how to speak to her without spitting icy words of anger and disappointment, so the two continued to sit in the awkward silence.

* * *

That evening, Byakuya hadn't spoken with his sister since the car ride home. He sent her to her bedroom immediately upon reaching the Kuchiki compound and confined her there with Renji on guard duty. He was still uncertain about the situation and knew he needed wise advice, and who to discuss it with than none other than Ginrei.

He arrived at the door of his grandfather's room, preparing to knock and announce his arrival, when the voice inside told him to enter. He hid his surprise and walked inside to find the old man watching something on the television screen. He froze when he recognized the faces, one belonging to his dear sister, holding a microphone.

"Ojii-sama," he started.

"Ah, Byakuya, have a seat," he gestured to the young man to sit across from him at the table, "I was watching Rukia's karaoke battle."

He tried to hide his confusion, but his voice betrayed some of it when he asked, "How long has this been going on?"

Ginrei paused the video and turned his attention to his grandson, clasping his hands together on the table, "Byakuya, you have to realize that she's no long the little girl that needs protecting. Rukia is growing into a fine, young woman. She's strong and smart, so please take that into consideration before you speak with her."

He stared at the old man, "You're encouraging her."

"There comes a time when you learn to let go."

"I'm doing what's best for her. She doesn't know what kind of world is out there."

"That may be so, but she will have to face that world eventually."

"As long as I'm still here, I will keep her safe."

Ginrei knew his grandson was very stubborn, but even that had its limits. Sometimes he wondered if Byakuya didn't have a sister complex.

* * *

"Oi, Rukia."

Renji was calling her and knocking on the door, since he brought her a small snack to calm her nerves and she barely touched her dinner earlier. He slid the door open and entered, to find the girl pacing about her room, still in her school uniform. He knelt down to the table to place the tray on it and stared at his young charge.

"What should I do?!" she whined, uncharacteristically, "Nii-sama must be livid!"

"Yeah, I bet he is," he started munching on the snack that was reserved for Rukia.

She stopped and looked at him, "C'mon, Ren, help me out here!"

"Hey, I already got an ear full from him."

"Yeah, but he's giving me the silent treatment! I rather have him yell at me! Anything but ignoring me!"

Renji opened his mouth to say something, but a certain sound went off, causing Rukia to dive for her school bag. He watched her frown at the object in her hands and asked, "What is it?"

"Er, nothing. Just an alarm going off... It's broken, I think." She quickly stuffed the shinigami badge behind her back and glared at him, "Do you mind, Ren?"

"What?" He was still eating the food, giving her a puzzled look.

"Get out- Wait, are you eating my snack?!"

He coughed, "Uh, taichou said to keep an eye on you."

"Ugh, I need to go to sleep!"

"Why? You won't be going to school tomorrow."

"What?!"

"Thought you knew that. Taichou ordered it. You're to stop going there from this point on."

"That's not fair!"

Having forgotten about the hollow alert, she was prepared to go see her brother instead and demand his reasons for shutting her from the world, but Renji held her arm back, "Rukia, can you wait till morning at least? It's late already, and both of you need some time to think this over before you say something you'll regret."

She pursed her lips and knew Renji was right. She needed to figure out what to say to him and marched over to her desk and sat down, planning to make a list of why she should attend Karakura High. Renji breathed a sigh of relief that he managed to quell that storm.

* * *

In the distance under the moonlight, Kisuke spotted the rampaging hollow, but something was quite off about it. Instead of the usual, dark spiritual energy it radiated, he sensed another reiatsu along with it, and it felt rather human. He, in his shinigami form, stealthily approached it to get a better look. Yoruichi followed right behind him, and it wasn't too far till they reach the hollow.

"I can't sense Rukia yet," he informed his companion.

Yoruichi wasn't sure of what to say. She hadn't seen the girl in a few days, since the last hollow attack, but Rukia was getting busier lately with her school activities, "I'm sure you can handle this one tonight, Kisuke."

"But I like watching her in action," he pouted.

She rolled her eyes when they arrived on a rooftop overlooking the hollow wandering the streets below. The hollow appeared smaller than the ones they normally faced, and even the white mask was different - not a complete one but broken, fragmented parts with missing pieces to it. A huge chain hung from the center of its chest, being dragged along the ground. The other end of the lengthy chain made a deep impression in the road, and a few cars drove unknowingly into the chain and caused several accidents.

"This is strange," he noted with a frown, which Yoruichi agreed.

"It's not quite a hollow yet."

"I've never seen anything like this before."

"It's not a full hollow; there's no hole."

"It must still be in its transformation stage," he pointed to the end of the chain that was slowly corroding away, "That chain is disappearing. By the time it reaches the chest, I'm sure it will be a full hollow then."

"So, it didn't come through a gateway... then where did it come from?"

Before Kisuke could formulate a plan, the partial hollow had taken notice of them and turned in their direction, whipping the long chain into a tall building. The destruction created more mayhem below, and people, who had been standing around gawking at the car accidents, were now running for their lives as several blocks of the building fell down.

_'Help... me...'_

"That voice...?" Kisuke looked very grave for once, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at the oncoming hollow.

_'Someone... help me...'_

"Do you hear it, Yoruichi?"

"It's coming from that hollow!" She gave a short pause, "It almost sounds human..."

"Great," he sighed, "We can't exactly destroy it now."

The hollow hesitated in its movements, raising its clawed hands above Kisuke who had just unsheathed his zanpakuto. He couldn't outrightly destroy the white mask, but since it was already in broken pieces, he could probably add a bit more to the damage. Kisuke easily avoided the claw and flashed stepped away, only to quickly dash into the air at a chance to strike at the mask. Its head jerked back, barely missing the arc of the shinigami's blade, but Kisuke smoothly swung his arm to the side, using the hilt of the sword to dent the mask.

A large crack appeared from the point of impact, threatening to break apart, but still remained intact. The hollow growled in pain, and a bright light illuminated from beneath the mask and blinded them. Within seconds of the light appearing, it left just as fast, and no longer did a hollow stood in their midst, but the form of a human sprawled on the pavement.

Kisuke and Yoruichi approached him, and the former knelt down to the young man, dressed in all black and hair in the color of dark crimson, and examined him. He was unconscious but seemed to be fine, exhausted of his spiritual energy, and suddenly, a small, green sphere tumbled out of his mouth. The two exchanged puzzled glances and then resumed eyeing the mysterious pill on the ground.

* * *

The next day at school, Ichigo had been tensed all morning since the previous day's ultimate surprise. He was so worried about Rukia and had no way of getting in touch with her that he could barely get any sleep last night. He kept staring at Rukia's empty desk until the morning bell ran and Ochi-sensei entered.

His friends, especially Orihime, saw the downcast look in his eyes, and knew things were not going to be the same without their Rukia.

For the rest of the week, Rukia still remained absent, and even Renji stopped coming to work. So life had been dull and quiet, which Ichigo would be glad to have, but not at the price of losing a friend. No, he wasn't giving up. He never gave up, just hit a tiny slump at the moment, but all he needed to do was get Rukia, free her from the clutches of her evil brother!

"Right! I'll just fight her brother!" he slammed his fist on his desk, in the middle of math class.

The irate teacher snapped her chalk in half and sent him out of the room as punishment for the uncalled interruption. He stood outside the classroom, leaning on the wall, and after looking up and down the empty hallway since classes were still in session, he decided to take a quick restroom break, not like the teacher would notice his disappearance for five minutes.

On the way to the restrooms, he spotted Principal Hirako and Muguruma-sensei walking and talking in the distance. Normally he wouldn't care about them, but he heard Rukia's name mentioned and carefully stalked after them to eavesdrop.

"Kuchiki hasn't been showing up for practice," Kensei was saying, "Do you know something?"

Shinji shrugged, "Byakuya's back in town. I heard he cut his trip two weeks short."

"Why?"

"For his sister," the blonde laughed, "Byakuya has it pretty bad."

"What do you mean?"

"His sister complex."

"..."

"People think he's cold-hearted and unexpressive, even towards his family, but the guy would do anything to protect them."

"So Kuchiki not being at school is because he locked her up?!"

Shinji nodded, "Yep. Our families have business ties, so I've met the Kuchikis a few times, but I had never met the young Kuchiki sister till last week."

"Man, talk about being overprotective."

"You mean, possessive? Haha."

"Hirako!"

The two men turned to the owner of the voice: an overzealous Ichigo running up to them. Kensei looked at the student with disapproval, "You should address your elders properly."

"Er, Hirako-kouchou. Muguruma-sensei."

"Ah you're one of the students who won the karaoke battle!" Shinji grinned and slapped a congratulatory hand to his back, "I'll spare some time to whoever brings Aizen off his pedestal!"

"Um okay, well it's about Rukia... I was wondering..."

* * *

Rukia stood in front of the door, trying to settle her nerves and going over her list of reasons to attend Karakura High. She had been restless for days, stuck in her room with an interchange of Renji and Shuuhei guarding her, unnecessarily, though sneaking off to school did cross her mind a few times. She just didn't want to upset her brother more than she already did.

So now, days later, she was finally ready to confront him and perhaps reveal everything to him - well, almost everything, considering the shinigami job was probably unbelievable to begin with.

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Her brother's voice, deep and authoritative, resounded and allowed her entry. She slid the screen door open and stepped inside. As soon as she disappeared into the room, from the corner of the long hallway, Renji and Shuuhei poked their heads out and then hurried to the door to eavesdrop. They pressed their ears against the panel, trying to make out any words.

"Do you hear anything?" Shuuhei asked.

"No, it's too quiet."

"Did you expect them to yell and fight?" came a voice over them.

"Not really..."

"But something dramatic."

They paused and exchanged confused looks because neither had asked such a question, and they turned their attention behind them to find a smiling Ginrei pressing an index finger to his lips, to keep them quiet because he wanted to listen on the conversation too.

* * *

Meanwhile in Byakuya's room, Rukia sat properly in front of her brother, legs tucked under her thighs and her kimono wear neatly smoothed over her body with hands together in her lap. She kept her eyes averted to the floor, awaiting for a word of acknowledgement from him.

He had been seated in front of a small altar in the sitting area, with a tea tray next to him. It seemed like he had not touched it; his eyes remained on the picture frame that sat on the altar, a photo of his deceased wife and Rukia's sister.

Rukia curiously peered over to him, wondering what his thoughts were whenever he gazed upon the image of her sister. She knew he missed her very much, even though they only had three years of marriage together, and during that time, she had fallen gravely ill. Rukia had been young at the time, but she could still remember a few things with her sister, especially the promise she made.

"Nii-sama," she started to comfort him.

"I made a promise to her."

She was quiet, not interrupting this one chance that he initiated a conversation with her, and eager to understand her wonderful brother that she had place on a pedestal since her younger days. Sure, he could be a bit overprotective but he was smart and strong and good-looking - something she could almost overlook. At the mention of promises, she stared at his back with great concentration, attempting to recall what promise he had made to her sister before death.

"I promised to take care of you and make you happy."

Rukia's hands clutched the fabric of her kimono tightly at the realization of the burden she had posed. Wanting to call out to him to reassure him that he was doing just that, she opened her mouth to speak, but the household was soon filled with the voice of men rallying into battle. Both siblings took to their feet and flew out the door, nearly crashing into his first lieutenant speaking with Ginrei.

"What's going on?" Byakuya asked.

"We're not sure," Renji responded, "But it sounds like an invasion. I had Shuuhei head to the front lines to find out."

He had to restrain every muscle in his body from revealing his anger and appalled disbelief that someone had lost interest in living to invade the Kuchiki estate - the most powerful (former yakuza) clan in Japan. He nodded and turned to Ginrei, "Ojii-san, please return to your room for your safety. You too, Rukia."

"No, I'm going with you, nii-sama!"

He wanted to refute and order her back to her room, but from the stern look from their grandfather, he decided not to reply to her and wondered what the old man was thinking to allow danger to come near Rukia. He nodded, even though he was still in disagreement about it, and so with his sister, he followed Renji to the main courtyard, leaving a smiling Ginrei to watch them depart from him.

They winded through the maze-like hallways and finally reached the main house, but another ten minutes took them through the alert guards and house servants, who all decided to take the time to acknowledge the master of the house. He had no time for annoying formalities but the nobility in his blood could not turn them away, only to have Rukia and Renji exchange weary glances and sighs.

To protect their home, Rukia made the choice to break from her discipline, "Nii-sama, pardon me for going first!"

"Me too, taichou!"

Renji ran after her disappearing figure, leaving a speechless Byakuya detained by the maids who had been eager for his return. If either of the two bothered to look back, they wouldn't have missed a once in a lifetime expression on his face that screamed out, _'Save me from these ridiculous female servants!'_

* * *

By the time Rukia and Renji arrived at the main courtyard, the men of the Kuchiki clan were sprawled on the ground, with minor wounds and bruises. Shuuhei, wielding a sword in his hand, was in what appeared to be a final confrontation with the enemy who assaulted the compound. She took note of the destroyed front gates and frowned at the small group that terrorizing her home.

Ichigo - after retrieving information about the Kuchikis from the principal - with his friends, spotted Rukia immediately and smiled, shouting out to her, "Oi Rukia! We came to sa-!"

He never finished his sentence because an angry Rukia punched him in the stomach. Shuuhei and the guards didn't hide their surprise, watching the young man keel over from the attack, then Rukia proceeded to elbow the back of his head to the ground while everyone, except Orihime, looked on in amusement.

"Kuchiki-san! Ah..." The orange-haired girl wasn't sure who to worry about first: Rukia who they came to save, or Ichigo who was being beaten by the their rescuee. But they did come uninvited, and practically destroyed the front yard and knocked out several of their employees, so she had a right to be upset, which was an understatement from the way Rukia was handling Ichigo.

The said girl was sitting on Ichigo's back, with folded arms across her chest, and demanded, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Serves you right!" Renji laughed.

"Dammit, Rukia, get off me!" he struggled under the threatening pain.

"Answer me! What did you come here for?"

"For you!"

"What?" Her grip loosened, and she, speechlessly, stared at the back of his head.

Ichigo managed to take his arm back and twist his body beneath her light weight and had her sitting rather inappropriately in his lap, not that either of them noticed. He held both of her shoulders, staring directly into her eyes, lost in their own world again - like deja vu.

"I'll save you, Rukia. Save you from your brother!"

She blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"Didn't your dictator brother with a sister complex lock you up?! I mean, that's why you're not at school!"

Before Rukia could hit his head for insulting her beloved brother, someone had beaten her to it. Ichigo growled and cursed, and both looked up to see Byakuya, standing right behind him, with his sword in hand, glaring at the boy.

"And who is this dictator with a sister complex?"

Byakuya narrowed his eyes to angrily slits and was not liking the intimate position the outsider held his sister in. In one swift move, he slid the blade of the sword half out of the scabbard and held the cold metal against Ichigo's neck, and if the boy dared to make a sudden move, he would definitely draw blood.

"Unhand my sister, peasant."

The voice was deep and scary, and Ichigo would never admit to the disturbing chill down his spine, but he refuse to bend down to the commands of a total, arrogant jerk. Rukia, trying to keep calm at the threat from her brother to her classmate, remained quiet and observed Ichigo's reaction which was just his usual scowl, but what caused her eyes to widen was Ichigo slapped the weapon away from him and stood up to face the man of the house. He propped up Rukia easily to his side, and the girl was still staring at the bold Ichigo next to her.

He was crazy to out rightly challenge her brother. No one ever did that.

Her friends stood behind them supportively and were just as courageous to defy the head of the Kuchiki Clan, and as grateful she was that they cared so much about her, Rukia couldn't let them throw away their lives so easily. She stepped away from Ichigo, to his surprise, and stood in front of her brother with arms spread to block either from a deadly confrontation - which seemed like it was too late anyway.

"Kurosaki," she couldn't meet his eyes, for the shame of not being able to decide for herself, tied down to the duties of her family, "go home."

"You should listern to her," Renji added.

Angry, Ichigo shouted at her, "Like hell! I don't listen to you!" He pressed his index finger to Rukia's forehead, causing her to look at him with surprise and Byakuya's frown to deepen, but he was making a dramatic point, "I'm here to save you, so all your opinions are pointless!"

For emphasis, he poked her head a few more times before turning his glare to the man behind her and declared, "I challenge you to a duel! In kendou!"

At that announcement, everyone's face - friend and enemy alike - dropped, and groans echoed around them because his friends knew that he was still an amateur, since he had just recently taken up kendou, and the Kuchiki household knew that Byakuya was an undefeated master in the sword arts.

Ichigo wasn't finish, "If I win, Rukia will be free to do as she pleases." As much as he hated to say the rest, he had to, "But if you win, Byakuya, we'll leave and never see Rukia again." The words tasted bitter in his mouth, and even Rukia hated hearing those words. She looked away sadly, knowing the results of the fight already.

"You will address me properly!" Byakuya had flinched at the informal usage of his name, and his hand twitched to the hilt of the sword, trying to resist the urge to cut him on the spot.

"Yeah yeah, only when I lose," he waved off, "So how about it, Byakuya?"

Twitch.

"Fine."

Byakuya turned around and motioned for Renji to prepare the training hall for a kendou match while one look to Shuuhei had the other lieutenant to take their intruder-turned-guests to the private guestroom. The others were amazed that he didn't utter a single word yet could command his subordinates to do exactly as he wanted, and Orihime wondered aloud if he had telepathy.

Rukia pursed her lips, trying not to smile at the lighthearted atmosphere Orihime attempted to create, and followed Shuuhei, with her friends right behind her, to the sitting room while they waited for the training hall to be prepared. They sat down somberly, and Shuuhei disappeared after.

Just as the screen door closed, Rukia pounced on Ichigo, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt, "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I told you already!" he tried to pry her fingers off him.

"You're going to die!"

"It's just a kendou match. How bad can it be?"

Uryuu coughed and looked at his cell phone. Using the mobile internet, he pulled up some information that would relate to the current situation and hopefully cause Ichigo to piss in his pants, "Kuchiki Byakuya, at age ten earned the rank of 1-dan, the youngest in the history of kendou. Having trained with the top masters, including Kenpachi Zaraki, he remains undefeated and has earned the title of a Renshi 6-dan."

The room was silent, eeriely silent that mice could scurry across the tatami floor, and Ichigo looked like he could break like a dandelion swaying in the wind.

"That's why you're going to die!" Rukia released Ichigo and sat back down, sighing hopelessly, "You never think these things through."

"Um, Kuchiki-san, don't you mean lose?" Orihime wondered.

She shook her head, "Not after nii-sama's done."

At that moment, the door slid open again, and two maid servants entered with some refreshments, or what Rukia would call it: Ichigo's last meal.

* * *

Meanwhile across town, Kouga rapped his fingers across the top of the desk as he read the documents in front of him. He was pleased with the information he received, and the photographs accompanying the papers made him smile, a devilish, plotting smile of nothing good about to come from this man in the future. The images showed humans turning into hollows in a most painful way after swallowing a familiar green pill.

"As you can see, Kouga-sama," the man - known only by Muramasa - seated across from him, started, "the test subject has successfully transformed..."

"But?"

"But it's still unstable. There's a fifty percent chance the transformation is reversible, though we haven't been able to do that yet."

"I don't care if we can reverse it. I want them strong and indestructible! I want them to wreck havoc on Karakura!" he cackled.

"Sir, we also lack the control. The test subject went berserk and destroyed the underground lab."

"What? Where is it now?"

"We tracked it east, but when he pinpointed the final location, it was gone. Only the destruction was left, and there were faint traces of its energy... with another."

"Another?"

"It's still being investigated. Dr. Kurotsuchi should have a report completed by the end of the week."

"That just means someone is interfering," Kouga rubbed his chin in deep thought, "Find out who and kill them."

"Yes, Kouga-sama." He paused, hesitating to bring up the next topic, and Kouga noticed.

"Well, what is it?"

"Since the lab was destroyed, it needs to be repaired... and they're short on funds."

"Che, fine. Whatever they need, as long as this nightmare becomes reality. Then we'll be closer to our goals."

* * *

Ichigo was in the middle of his heated battle against Byakuya, who appeared to not even break a sweat from the two minutes of sword clashing. The former was already drenched in his black gi, since the start from nervousness, and it was obvious who was going to win, even to Ichigo but he couldn't give up. If he still had breath within him, he could still have a chance to win, despite the difference in strength.

Byakuya swung the wooden sword as everyone held their breaths, but luckily, he missed. The sword didn't come close, but the strength of the swing had created an arc of air that sliced the sleeve of the Ichigo's uniform. The sweat trickled down Ichigo's face when he realized that, "Hey, this is your property! Not mine!"

Orihime looked worried on the sidelines, along with Uryuu and Chad who could see it wasn't going well. Rukia stood behind the group and tried to remain indifferent, but the Kuchiki mask was gradually crumbling with every breath Ichigo took. Even Renji and Shuuhei, standing on either side of her, could see that in their young mistress.

As much as they fought and argued, she was worried about him and was afraid that she would never see him again, but also, she was angry at him for always doing things impulsively. If he had just waited, she could eventually convince her brother and then she return to school with them, but no, the stupid berry head just had to charge head first into battle!

"Ichigo no baka!" she shouted and ran towards the center of the room, throwing everyone into shock and confusion.

Ichigo's left foot faltered a step back, and Byakuya eyed the chance to end the fight and moved in for the final blow, but Rukia's proclamation somewhere in the distance took him by surprise too. He watched his dear sister throw herself in between him and the weakling, more like protecting Ichigo with her arms outstretched which prick a tiny part of him into jealousy because she was doing just that.

She stood between them to protect Ichigo.

"R-Rukia..." he breathed heavily, "Get... outta... the way... I'm not done." He readjusted himself, gripping the hilt of the wooden sword, "I'll beat him, and we can return to school, together."

"Ichigo," she whispered, admiring his strength and resolve. Because of him, she was going to make her own decision. She let her arms down to her sides, and with great determination, she turned to Byakuya, "Nii-sama, stop this. Please.

"Ichigo shouldn't be fighting my battles."

Byakuya dropped the sword to his side but retained his grip on it as Rukia spoke, "But because of him, I understand that you fight with everything you've got for what you want in life, and if I truly want it, then I'll fight.

"I will fight you, nii-sama!" she declared.

Everyone stared at her with wide eyes, but it was Byakuya she was waiting for, if he had accepted her challenge. For the next minute, the siblings fell into a staring contest as if testing each other's will in silence. Staring into her vibrant, violet eyes, Byakuya realized how much she resembled her older sister - not just in looks, but the strength of their hearts - and he knew his couldn't compare.

"I concede," he turned away with sigh.

"Nii-sama?" she blinked in confusion and maybe not being able to accept that her unbeatable brother had admitted a defeat against his little sister.

"Rukia," he paused in his step, "I could never raise a hand against you, my dear sister."

And with those words, he left the hall.

"Nii-sama..."

Rukia was deeply moved by his words, his most precious feelings that he finally revealed to her, and that made her love him that much more, in a sibling way that she grew up with. But she also felt guilty for not speaking to him properly. She was picking up bad habits from a certain someone...

Ichigo placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she looked at him. He smiled, "I understand his feelings. Being an older brother and all. It's hard to let go, but he'll learn to. Slowly. With his sister com-UGH!"

She elbowed him in the side to shut him up, "You talk to much, Kurosaki!"

"Bitch!" he mumbled, rubbing his side, "What happened to calling me 'Ichigo'?"

"Why?" she eyed him suspiciously.

He flushed pink from her stare and whirled his head away, "It sounded better! Like we're friends!" When she didn't respond, he took a peek at her and smiled, because she was wearing the most beautiful and genuine smile he had ever seen.

"I'd like that, Ichigo."

* * *

So eventually, Rukia was able to return to school, but unfortunately she came back days after the kendou tournament against Arrancar High had taken place. She found out from her classmates that their kendou team had finally defeated their rivaling high school for the first time in forever, since it had never happened before! She assumed the whole school would be celebrating this critical moment in history, but from the looks of things happening around her, no one was in the mood.

She even spotted a depressed Kensei walking to his office, and curiosity got the best of her. She had to find out what happened at the tournament.

And this was what she found out: Karakura High was named the winner of the tournament because Arrancar High's team forfeited, due to the whole team getting food poisoning from their kendou manager, Nel-chan... who apparently had become good friends with Orihime and borrowed some delicious recipes from her...

Therefore, the default win was only a burden on Kensei, who had to endure the ranting and cursing from an unhappy Shinji who refused to accept an easy win without _'creaming Aizen's face in the dirt'_.

* * *

In the end, Byakuya had hesitantly accepted Rukia's decision to keep living her current life and attend Karakura High, despite his reservations of her befriending the lowly heathen named Kurosaki Ichigo. He would never like that boy, but if it made his precious, adorable sister happy, he would permit it. Plus lately, she had spent more time with him and talked much about her schooling than before, and he enjoyed every moment of it.

"Don't worry, nii-sama," she smiled brightly, "I'll make you proud! The Kuchiki name will leave a good legacy in the normal world!"

"It was never normal to begin with," he mumbled quietly to himself, behind the teacup.

"What was that, nii-sama?" she asked.

"It was nothing."

That afternoon was beautifully shared by the two siblings over tea, when Renji suddenly burst into the once quiet room with his arms full of photo albums and videos, "Taichou! I grabbed these from Kuchiki-dono's room!"

Byakuya, for once, felt dread creeping down his spine as Rukia stared curiously at them, "What are those?"

Renji had his mouth opened but unsure of what to say and glanced at Byakuya, who coughed, "Nothing. You can leave them in my room, Abarai." He gave a specific look to Renji that told him to quickly disappear from sight with those things before Rukia pursued the subject further.

And he was right. Rukia looked like she wanted to know what those albums and videos were about, and of course, he couldn't tell her that they were of her - Rukia moments documented by the Kuchiki household when he was not around. So being the awesome brother that he was, Byakuya bribed her with her favorite dessert: sakura mochi cakes.

* * *

**Next episode, Undercover Rukia! Ulquiorra's Fantasy Night!** (working title)

**Notes:** Another long episode, and I had to cut the end again, lol. The subplot will continue into the next episode. Gosh, I swear Byakuya was difficult to write. I think my brain is fried 'cause I know I had more to say than this, lol.

To **Dark Butterfly11517**: I'm not sure who I will pair Rukia with at the end. So many nice choices! *drools*

To **chibiyukia**: Thank you, I'll definitely add Ashido in the future. Just not sure if that's the near future, or the far future, lol.

To **shyhinata144**: I can't wait for Toushi to show up too, lol. As for Shuuhei, I sorta have him dating someone. I think most can guess who it is, but she'll appear later. Renji, um, not sure what I'll do with him. I didn't really think about those two with Rukia. But who know, lots of possiblities!

To **dethangelx**: Lol, I swear, every time I read a review of yours, I get into HitsuRuki mode! I think it was my first crack pairing I fell in love with.

To **K**: Yes, it'll be a Rukia-harem for a while, because I can't decide, lol. Plus, we need more of those, so get to writing people!

To **everyone**: Thank you for reading and reviewing! -kuro


	9. Undercover Rukia!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Nine: Undercover Rukia! Ulquiorra's Fantasy Night! **

For a whole week, he couldn't believe he hadn't been able to get Rukia isolated from the rest of the world. Ever since her return to school, she was endlessly surrounded by her friends and classmates, who welcomed her back with pure joy, and she, too, was happy to be back. After the little celebration, they bombarded her with questions of her whereabouts, that she seemed too uncomfortable to answer truthfully, so she managed to vaguely say it involved her brother, which was a partial truth.

Ichigo, knowing the whole truth and being there to witness it all, felt like he deserved more attention than this, because he did inspire Rukia to stand up to her jerk brother. After that fiasco was resolved, it had just dawned on him he had yet to confront her about the more important issue: her so called cosplaying against giant beasts. There had been times he caught glimpses of a black kimono-clad being soaring through the moonlit night and wondered if it was really her out there.

So he had every right to be pissed.

And at that moment, he would do something about it, or try to because his many previous attempts at pulling Rukia aside for a brief moment failed miserably. So, maybe his doing something about it this time might be effective. Just might.

There were still some time before the morning bell, so students were around Rukia again, like the norm, and talking vivaciously about random things in a teenager's life. Ichigo stood up, loudly slamming his fists on the desktop, and everyone quieted and turned to him. Rukia eyed him carefully, watching his every move, from pushing the chair back and smoothly walking over to 'Rukia's posse' to menacingly parting the group with just his amber eyes and wrapping his fingers around her delicate wrist.

He hoisted her up from the chair and pulled her out of the room, with the audience in quiet awe that she didn't refuse him with a fist or two. After the pair disappeared from view and the door closed, the clatter of voices erupted into the air, becoming incoherent sentences of...

"Are those two...?"

"Kuchiki's type...?"

"When did they...?"

"Kurosaki's not gay...?"

"I wanted to marry Kuchiki!"

"Let's listen in!"

* * *

If he had known it was that easy to get her alone with him, he should have gone with the intimidation tactic a long time ago. So now that Ichigo had Rukia standing before him, he wasn't sure how to start the conversation, but she stood with her arms folded across her chest, wearing the patent Kuchiki stare, and it annoyed him that she was like her brother so much.

"Would you stop looking at me like that!" he grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck, nervously, "It's not helping."

"Why? You think you can make me stop? I dare you."

"Not here, not now. Not ever. It creeps me out 'cause you look like your brother then."

She snorted at his remark, "Wuss, take it like a man!"

"Rukia, you're making this difficult," he spoke in a hushed tone.

"Oh Ichigo, I'm sorry, let me make you more comfortable," she said in softer, sugary voice and then slammed her fist into his stomach. He doubled over and moaned in pain.

* * *

Meanwhile, the whole classroom, glued to the door, fell into awkward silence, and their imagination running wild from the bits of conversation they could grab.

"Would you stop... me...? It's... helping."

"You think...? I dare you."

"Not here, not now. Not... like your brother then."

"Wuss, take it like a man!"

"Rukia, you're making this difficult!"

"Oh Ichigo... let me make you more comfortable!"

Ichigo moaned in pleasure.

* * *

Talk about taking things out of context because Byakuya thought he heard the same thing, so around the corner he came and nearly pummeled Ichigo into the wall. Thank goodness the class decided to be ever curious and nosy and opened the door at the same moment to almost witness a murder. Not sure which was more humiliating, Ichigo just appreciated the gods above for sparing his life right then.

Byakuya released him and straightened his suit, just as Shinji appeared from the nearby hallway that he had zoomed out of earlier. At the sight of the principal, the students scurried back into the classrooms, leaving Ichigo and Rukia to fend for themselves.

"Nii-sama, what are you doing here?"

Shinji intervened with a smile and explained, "Ah Kuchiki-san will be substituting for Ochi-sensei."

"What?!" Ichigo shouted, "What the hell is going on?!"

"Well, Ochi-sensei suddenly won a free cruise, so she'll be gone for two weeks.

"Seriously?" the young man eyed the men suspiciously, having a faint idea that this was all Byakuya's doing, and of course no one was willing to openly admit that for fear of their future.

"Oh! How nice for her!" Rukia exclaimed, and leave it to her to believe such a thing so easily.

Ichigo was then confused, "Wait, but why is Byakuya here?"

Twitch. Smack.

"Ouw!"

Ichigo rubbed his head - after being hit by a huge, white folding fan - and glared at the older man. The other two snickered at the boy's misfortune, and Shinji continued to explain, "It was short notice to find someone to fill in, so Kuchiki-san volunteered."

"Does he even qualify to teach?"

Smack.

"I have qualifications to run a country," Byakuya informed him.

Ichigo didn't realize how true that statement was because he was too busy trying not to imagine a country being ruled mercilessly by Byakuya.

So to cut the scene short and to spare Ichigo from further abuses - that everyone seemed to enjoy at his expense - the school day proceeded, and introductions were made during homeroom of Ochi-sensei's two week absence and Byakuya's substitution. Even though he was Rukia's handsome, older brother, he preferred not to be treated like one and should be seen like any other teacher. He was also well versed in all subjects and able to teach anything, especially Japanese class, and obviously, the all powerful Shinji vouched for him. Plus, Ochi-sensei did leave a weekly syllabus before her leave.

Overjoyed by the presence of her brother, she didn't suspect him to having plotted his way into Karakura High and found it endearing that he would take this opportunity to spend time with her in the new environment. She couldn't wait till lunch time, when they could share meals together in public, without the burdens of their Kuchiki life and its people.

She sighed happily to herself, and Ichigo took note of it, still glaring at Byakuya's form at the head of the classroom. He sulked at his desk, while class started after Shinji's departure, and quietly cursing Byakuya for his existence.

Byakuya was writing something on the board when he sneezed, twice, so elegantly at that, and turned to glare at Ichigo, who tried to look like he was the most innocent person on earth. Next to him, Rukia glared to and whispered, "What are you doing? Stop messing with nii-sama."

"I'm not doing anything!" he insisted in angry whispers, "I swear!"

"You better behave," she warned and stuck her nose back into the textbook.

"Tell him that!" he huffed, upset that she was taking her brother's defense without hearing his side and maybe a little jealous too. His head snapped back when a piece of chalk hit dead center of his forehead, and Byakuya was not happy. When did that man ever smile? (Maybe when he was maiming Ichigo, in this thoughts.)

The class snickered, but one look from the substitute teacher sent the room into an ice age, and things would go smoothly from there, but this was not a perfect world after all. Rukia felt the vibration of the hollow alarm go off in the pocket of her skirt and raised her hand into the air. She blushed at having to excuse herself from the presence of her wonderful brother's teachings.

He allowed to leave to the restroom, which Ichigo knew better from the many times she had to make that excuse to disappear for hours and he wasn't about to let her do that alone. After Rukia left, Ichigo stood up with the same lame excuse but was quickly denied. The class watched in awe at the glaring showdown between the two, thinking that Ichigo was actively pursuing Rukia while Byakuya the older, protective brother would not allow such a thing to happen.

"We're rooting for you, Kurosaki," a male student whispered to him.

"Kya, a fight over Rukia-chan, so romantic," he heard a few girls squealing.

"A love-hate relationship!"

"A forbidden relationship!"

"Hot stuff!"

Whatever each student was thinking, assumptions and imaginations were definitely getting out of hand and would kill them all one day. But this, also, began the two factions of the first year students and would go down in Karakura High history: the wild and tough Ichigo versus the mature and elegant Byakuya.

* * *

Rukia snuck out of the building and made her way towards the gymnasium, where it was more secluded during that time of day. From there, she popped out of her body into her shinigami form and hurried away, to the hollow location. She had just flew overhead of the building housing the classrooms when Ichigo caught a glimpse of her.

He had managed to lose Byakuya with the help of his female classmates, who bombarded the teacher with various questions relating to the subject of his likes and dislikes, his type of girlfriend, and so forth. The female population was something to be feared, especially when good-looking guys were involved.

Pushing that hilarious thought of Byakuya drowning in a sea of estrogen, Ichigo chased after Rukia's agile form. He could still see her soaring through the air, but her form was becoming smaller as the gape between them widened. It didn't take long for him to track her down when he could see the giant monster, her obvious target, overshadowing the office building in the distance.

By the time he reached the location of battle, he had to push through the throng of scared people, and not seeing her nearby, he search between the scattered debris from nearby buildings, trying to avoid getting crushed in the process. He found her emerging from a hole in the side of a restaurant, bruised and disheveled, but she still looked all right.

A bit disoriented from the side attack of the hollow's tail that threw her into the corner eatery, Rukia assumed this hollow was more animalistic than the previous ones. Normally, she would anticipate any surprise attack, but the past few weeks had put a bit of stress on her, not to mention her shinigami duties had halted for that time. As a result of that, she was not in top shape to fight a stronger form of hollow.

She berated herself for even wishing Kisuke was around to help and cursed him for causing her to lose focus on the oncoming tail again. Everything played in slow motion, with the tip of the tail just meters from her and the sudden image of Ichigo speeding in her direction came into view. She thought she was hallucinating, but why Ichigo of all people?!

The sudden impact of things colliding into each other told her it was completely real, and she found Ichigo on top of her, having saved her from the tail that whipped over their heads. She tried to sit up, shoving him off her, while he was in a brief daze.

"Ichigo, what are yo-?!"

"Thank god you're okay!" he suddenly threw his arms around her, "You need to stop doing this. I'm getting gray hairs just watching you!"

"Ichigo! Did you follow me?!"

"What do you think! You're always getting into trouble!"

She groaned, thinking she would have to brainwash him again, but he had other ideas, "Let me help you!"

"What? You know it's dangerous, so why-?"

"That's why I can't let you fight it alone."

She thought a moment, "Well, what can you do?"

"Um, distract it?"

"Good, 'cause we need it like... RIGHT NOW!"

She quickly got to her feet and grabbed Ichigo's hand and jumped aside, very far away from the claw that smashed into the building, followed by the tail that crashed in front of them, preventing them from escaping. Ichigo pulled away from her and ran in the opposite direction, despite her loud protests over the hollow's angry growls.

"I'm doing what you want me to! Distract!"

The hollow turned his attention to the noisy human boy throwing rocks at it and trying to hit it with a broken pipe. It attacked with its claws, but he was faster - as all small things were in comparison to bigger things - and then used its tail as a last resort, swinging it through the air towards Ichigo. He had just dodged the claws and now with the tail whirling his way, he wouldn't have time to evade it.

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!"

The zanpakuto in Rukia's hand turned completely white and came down upon the tail in one clean cut, severing it close to the base and encased the end in pure ice. The piece of hollow tail never made contact with Ichigo, falling to the ground with a loud rumbling from where he was, but Rukia didn't stop there and continued with further commands, summoning the circle of ice on the ground to freeze the hollow completely in the cold element.

"Are you all right, Ichigo?" she asked, fully concerned, as she made her way over to him.

Amazed at the sight of the hollow stuck in the pillar of ice and speechless, he could only nod his head. After she was certain he was unharmed, she proceeded with slicing the hollow in half - white mask and all - and they watched the whole thing dissipate into the air as if it had never been there in the first place. Destruction around them said otherwise, and even the icy areas, caught in Rukia's attack, was beginning to melt.

"You were pretty awesome," he finally told her, having found some newfound respect for her.

"And I couldn't agree with you more, Kurosaki-kun," came the voice behind them, and of course, a smiling Kisuke had to show up now.

"You have some timing," Rukia pointed out.

"Only for you, Rukia-chan!" He was about to throw her arms around her, but Ichigo punched him in the face, forcing him away.

Rukia gave him a curt glare before sighing appreciatively, "I can protect myself, Ichigo."

"Yeah, you really showed it minutes ago fighting that thing," he scoffed, glaring down at her. An arm suddenly hooked around his neck, and Kisuke had pulled him back while trying to force the memory altering pill in his mouth. Rukia, slightly worried, didn't intervene, knowing that Ichigo could only stay safe if he didn't remember any of this.

But Ichigo, fighting on impulse of the vaguely familiar situation, refused what concoction Kisuke had by stomping on the man's foot and elbowing him in the ribs, and that knocked Kisuke off him. He declared, "You can't make me forget this! I can't overlook Rukia putting herself in danger!"

"Ichigo," she blinked.

"Someone has to keep you out of trouble!"

At the realization of his words, she smacked his head with her sword, "I don't need a babysitter!"

"I never said babysitter! You just can't do this alone!"

"That's what you're implying! And I work better alone!"

"Oh yeah?! That last fight really showed!"

"God, Ichigo, you're pissing me off!"

"Excuse me?" Kisuke tried speaking to the pair.

"WHAT?!" they shouted and turned to him, after giving each other one last glare.

"Help sounds like a great idea for you, Rukia," he started and hurried because of the evil eye she was giving him, "Like a sidekick!"

"No way! I will not be her sidekick!"

Rukia was now finally smiling, "I think that sounds very good."

"I refuse!" he kept insisting, "I should be the hero here!"

The girl snorted at the hilarity of his statement, "This isn't some shounen manga, Ichigo."

Glare.

"You'll just have to take the backseat!"

* * *

Ever since that day of Ichigo's christening as Rukia's sidekick, his job mainly consisted of taking care of Rukia's body while she was fighting hollows, making it easier during school when she knew her physical form was in his safe hands. As if the blushing boy dared do a thing to her unconscious form hiding in the janitor's closet, or the girls' restroom, or in the sports equipment storage shed.

Ichigo's nightmare had only begun, but these days were dubbed by Rukia as normal, and she enjoyed every moment of it. She would come to school with her awesome brother in their fancy, black car and sit through lessons with her classmates, being taught by her awesome brother! And after school, she would attend her kendou club, have some bouts with her teammates, and on other days, spar with Ichigo at the Kenpachi Dojo or stop by the _Urahara Ramen Shop_ for err, more training and not the ramen.

These days, Ichigo had been stuck to her like glue and sometimes she pondered over giving him Orihime's cooking so she could take a breather from him. She found out Orihime's cooking had struck fear in the hearts of Karakura High when she sent the baseball team and soccer team to the health office, and poor Yamada-sensei, that day, did not have a single break.

Once, Rukia broke away from her overprotective friend and found solace, or so she thought, within the confines of the sewing club lead by Uryuu. He had just finished the very pink gown of frills and laces and was eager to put it on his perfect model, because he had created the masterpiece with Rukia in mind. He intended to show that stupid Schiffer that Rukia was made for the pure princess style!

She was not sure of what to say when the accessories thrown on her was also made by Uryuu. The guy was definitely talented, but what he made her wear was just a bit much, yet she couldn't deny the pure joy on his face when she stood in front of him, in all the glory that was pink and girly.

Rukia quietly thanked the gods Ichigo, or her brother or anyone for that matter, did not see her in it.

While Byakuya was playing substitute teacher, not that anyone minded besides Ichigo - the faculty and students, mainly females, loved him, their eye candy of the day - poor Renji and Shuuhei dealt with Byakuya's real job in the corporate world, being sent back to China to finish negotiations and such. Neither had a choice, despite Renji's fear of flying and Shuuhei's unwillingness to part from his girlfriend for weeks, but it was an ultimatum from the much feared and revered Byakuya.

* * *

After the last meeting, Kouga wanted a reassessment of the situation from Muramasa and demanded the release of the dubbed hollow pills to the public to begin. "However you do it, I want it to be discrete," he added.

"I do have a method in mind."

"Oh?"

"We can release by way of the underground culture. The nightclubs."

"Hm, less suspicious, and it would be widespread in a matter of days," he grinned evilly, "My hollow army can en masse quickly! Bwahahaa!"

"Err, but Kouga-sama, the control of hollows isn't complete. Right now, they can only cause chaos, but to actually make an order of them is not possible."

His terrible cackling stopped at the truth to the words, "I know, but I will take it as it is. The real hollows are uncontrollable monsters, and we haven't been able to get a specimen of it - a tragedy."

"That's what Kurotsuchi said," Murasama grumbled, a bit disturbed.

"Oh, and what of the person interfering? Did you discover his identity?"

He stiffened at the new topic, "No sir, but... I have a plan in progress..." He had no plan at first, but from the conversation, one was forming in his brain, "I'll be able to lure him out in the open, and at the same time, release the pills to the public."

Kouga was pleased to hear it, "Ah, I expect good news soon. Bwahaha-ACK!" A sudden coughing fit attacked him, and Muramasa poured a cup of tea for him and patted his back for his support - such a loyal subordinate.

* * *

One day after school, Ichigo quickly dragged Rukia away, sneaking towards the back entrance of the campus to lose Byakuya from stalking after them. He was able to convince Orihime to share some of her baked cookies with him, and the man couldn't refuse the pitiful puppy-eyed look she was giving him, knowing full well how lethal her cooking was, so he was stuck in a battle of wills.

Like the many times before, the pair arrived at the _Urahara Ramen Shop_ and found it lacking customers. As they stepped inside, Ichigo had the courage to voice their joint thoughts, "How does he even keep this place when there's no one here?!"

Yoruichi, expecting their arrival, sighed, "You don't want to know."

The two students dropped their school bags on the empty stools and sat down at the counter when Kisuke appeared from the back area. With everyone present and Kisuke seriously not trying to pull anything mischievous, which caused doubt in the teenagers, the meeting began.

To their surprise, Kisuke was in a really, really serious mode. He started the meeting off by telling the story of the night he and Yoruichi were on patrol. (The small scene, not story, can be found in the last episode.) After discovering the pill that could turn a human into a hollow, he had begun his research into the matter, trying to decipher contents of the pill.

"We have to be cautious of the hollows we fight," Yoruichi warned, "They could be a human."

"How will we know?" Ichigo asked.

"They will look different. They don't have a complete mask, just fragmented ones with broken or missing pieces."

"And if their chains of fate are still intact, that means they're incomplete hollows," Kisuke added, "So instead of cutting the mask, you just need to damage it, and they should return to normal."

Rukia then asked, "Do you know who's behind it?"

"No, but the person must know about hollows," Kisuke frowned. "They are trying to create them."

Yoruichi spoke again, "I've been investigating them too and found the source at a nightclub."

"Right, so we have to go undercover!"

The girl seemed determined to solve this mystery, but Ichigo wasn't going to stay silent about it, "It's too dangerous! Don't you know what kind of people are there?!"

She looked at him, puzzled at his rhetoric question, "Of course, potential victims!"

Ichigo and Yoruichi sighed while Kisuke chuckled at her naiveté.

* * *

So later that night, after getting information on the nightclub, Rukia and Ichigo stood outside a rundown warehouse in the artsy section of town, dressed in their best edgy, bold outfits that they mooched off Kisuke. That left them bewildered as to why the man would own such type of clothing and not to mention why he possessed women's clothing at that. He just smiled mysteriously and shoved the two out for the night, not without copping a feel off Rukia's behind, earning him a double punch from both kids.

Ichigo knocked on the door and waited for it to open. First, the slot on the door slide aside to reveal a pair of suspicious eyes staring at them, "What do you want?"

"Uh, to enter the club, what else," he stated the obvious.

"No. Now go home."

The opening slammed shut. Never mind that they still looked like underage kids, but that wasn't the real reason they were denied entry. Ichigo lifted his fist, about to pound the door again, when the group behind them told the two weirdoes to get out of the way. The boy gave them the look of _'you guys are the weirdoes'_ because the people were wearing dark, extravagant layers of fabric with heavy make up of somberness.

After a quick inspection by the man behind the door, they were allowed in, so Rukia and Ichigo hurried after them but were immediately refused entrance again.

"Why won't they let us in?" she wondered.

"These aren't the right clothes," Ichigo sighed miserably. "It's enough I'm in this, I don't want to wear those goth stuff."

"Goth?"

"Don't you know it's a gothic club?" came the voice behind them.

Ichigo and Rukia turned around to the owner of the voice and were mildly surprised to find Ulquiorra there, but a goth nightclub would just be the place to find him, considering his fetish. The two exchanged glances then looked at Ulquiorria again, who still was inexpressible and immovable and whose eyes refused to leave Rukia's form. He could burn a hole through her with laser eye vision (or a cero).

With a silent mutual agreement between her and Ichigo, Rukia spoke up, "Schiffer-san, um can you help us out?"

"Help?" he repeated, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes.

The best chance they got was Ulquiorria, so Rukia put on her best performance of being a girly girl and moved closer to him, "We'd like to go inside the club, but as you can see, we can't." She clasped her hands together and peeked up to his face with big, round, vibrant eyes of violet to appeal to the manliness in him, while Ichigo tried not to gag on her over the top performance.

Ulquiorria's eyes seemed to uncharacteristically enlarge at her wild suggestion, but what she was thinking and what he was thinking were totally different. He turned away, to hide a blush, as he pulled out a cell phone and spoke quietly to the person on the other end. Within minutes of making that one call, it wasn't long when a mysterious, black van pulled up in front of the three teenagers.

Ichigo opened his mouth to speak, but the side door of the van flew open and Ulquiorra pushed Rukia into the hands of three odd-looking strangers. He stopped Ichigo from pursuing her just as the door closed and mayhem ensued in the van, with Rukia yelling for them to stop.

"Rukia! What are they doing to her?!" he demanded from Ulquiorra, who just stood patiently there and refrained from getting excited from the soon-to-be sight of his lovely muse.

He stated her wish, "She said she wanted to go inside."

"What? What does that have to do with this van and those people?!"

Ulquiorra just stared at him, "Stupid trash."

"What the hell?!"

Ichigo grabbed him by the collar of his while school uniform, not bothering to care why he was still in uniform at that time of night, on a school night too! The former was ready to pound an answer out of him, but it was a good time for Rukia to show up in the awesomeness that was gothic lolita fashion! The strangers propped the girl outside the van, and with one nod from Ulquiorra, the vehicle door closed and it was driven out of sight.

Rukia stood in a beautifully black corset dress with crimson sequins weaved throughout the lacey skirt and trimmed along the cuff of the sleeves, belling out around her wrists. White lace continued into several layers beneath the main one, and her legs were kept warm with sheer black stockings and her feet adorn with laced knee high boots. A dark hair band with ruby-colored gems as decor held her hair in place, to keep her beautiful, angry face in view.

The emotion just added to the red color scheme of the whole look, and the dark eyeliner and thick mascara made her lovely, violet eyes pop and still glaring at Ulquiorra. And all he could do was utter a single word:

"Perfect."

His hands started to reach out to her, but Ichigo slapped them away from Rukia, "Okay, thanks for the help!" He pulled a dumbfounded Rukia to the entrance, and finally they were allowed in, despite that Ichigo wasn't in any gothic clothing, but that didn't matter when you have a wickedly awesome Rukia like that.

"My perfect muse..."

Ulquiorra went inside the nightclub, after them. Like hell he would let her go, in his designs so freely, and he would be damned if he would allow trash to be associated with her either, because she was his muse!

"Mine," he growled. Face filled with determination and only one goal in his mind, and forgotten errands, he had to do that had brought him to that particular club in the first place, were just thrown aside.

And how determined was he? So much that he didn't even need to knock on the door to be permitted to enter, he just kicked the door down on the poor bouncer, who writhed in pain underneath Ulquiorra's path. He walked in, without hindrance from anyone, and could easily pinpoint Rukia within the crowd of people, despite her short height. (Talk about creepy, Ulquiorra has a Rukia-radar!)

And the trash Ichigo wasn't far behind her, after losing her among the waves of overly dressed people.

* * *

After entering the club, Rukia was in a very dark wonderland with various colored lights flashing every second around her, and in her strange yet fascinating environment, she felt mesmerized by the experience, and her body moved with the crowd. She nearly lost herself in them when a tiny voice reached her ears, and it was Ichigo that managed to remind her the reason they were there in the first place.

She looked around for Ichigo, after wandering off and losing sight of him, but since they were apart, she might as well start searching the club for the whereabouts of those dangerous pills. Yoruichi had told them the pills were green, like that was the best investigation she had done. It wasn't like people were going to swallow these things in public - what did they think they were, some sort of psycho stimulant drug?!

People around her were just having fun, drinking and dancing, and she didn't see anything suspicious so far, so maybe Yoruichi was wrong. But it didn't hurt to hang out there a bit longer.

Rukia then made her way over to the bar and requested some green tea, and that earned her a strange look from the bartender who, surprisingly, then asked for her identification. Not wanting to be thrown out yet for being officially underage, she backed away slowly, then ran - like that wasn't suspicious.

She ran right into the arms of the awaiting Ulquiorra, who had stalked her all the way over there, and in that moment of embracing her, he finally understood that he could no longer continue to live the way he had been, in solitude, because girls are just awesome to hug, especially petite ones with short, raven hair and big, violet eyes that have violent tendencies and make kicking ass in a short skirt look cool.

"S-Schiffer-san," her voice was muffled against him, "I can't breathe!"

His arms around her loosened but refused to let her go as he gazed down at her, still looking beautiful in black and red. And with her light complexion, he could imagine the crimson blood dripping across lusciously across her skin, and then he would bend towards the liquid marring perfection and lick it off her.

There was a loud slap, and it took a second for Ulquiorra to realize that Rukia had struck his face with her hand, only because he was about to violate her neck with his tongue. She looked disappointed and angry, but with him just standing there, staring back at her in a sort of weird daze, she didn't know what else to do with him. She had stopped him before he bit her, or something worse happened, so just call it lucky. (Or not, 'cause it was kinda hot.)

"Pervert!" she screamed, causing the people around them to glare at Ulquiorra, so while he was caught and reprimanded by the crowd, she was able to escape and ran away, right into Ichigo who was wondering what was going on with the noisy crowd that stopped dancing.

"What's going on over there?" he asked.

"Nothing," she answered curtly, after glancing around to make sure Ulquiorra didn't follow her. "Let's get out of here, Ichigo. I don't think the pills are here."

"Hm, yeah, I didn't see anything either."

So Ichigo and Rukia left the nightclub without another incident, and poor, misunderstood Ulquiorra had a reason to look as sad as he did, or always did. He lost a battle that night, but he was far from losing a war, and he refused to be beneath trash like Ichigo. What he deemed was his would be his in the end, that he vowed to himself.

With that on his mind, Ulquiorra had totally forgotten about his order to give out free green candies - not knowing that they were actually the hollow pills Rukia was sent to find - to the customers, which he wouldn't realize till the next day when he would get reprimanded by his employer. At least it was a disaster Rukia unknowingly prevented, so until next time.

* * *

**Next episode, Hail the Espada Kings! Grimmjow's Unexpected Love!** (working title)

**Notes:** I feel like I ramble too much in the story, lol. That's why they end up so long. I think I was having too much fun picking on Ulquiorra at the end. I've also realized that I have so much IchiRuki in it, even though HitsuRuki is in the back of my mind and I want Rukia to deal with each guy separately. Maybe that's why I have these chapters for the other guys to shine a little more, lol.

Oh, and I didn't intend to add more of Byakuya to the story, but after much thought and finding a temporary spot for him, there's more of him now!

And yay, HitsuRuki coming up soon! *squeals with delight*

To **kuromi123**: Kouga was fun to write at the beginning, but now I have to have him as an antagonist, to help move the story along. And you're right, Shuuhei is dating Rangiku. Predictable, I know, lol.

To **ej**: Thanks for the suggestion, and I bet her gramps would totally sponsor it! He wants some great grandbabies! Lol, poor Rukia! Though I don't see why he doesn't pressure Byakuya in having them then! Ok, now I'm rambling, lol.

To **ceiyn**: I'm glad you like the humor! That was my intention from the start, though there are some serious moments in here.

To **Anna chan**: Don't get too curious, lol! I'll have to make it up to Ulquiorra somehow, for not giving him the girl.

To **sphinx**: Welcome back! I'm glad you're enjoying it! It's hard to choose what I like best too 'cause I have some favorite scenes, lol, but I have to say the karaoke competition was one of them! And Byakuya got some more screen time! So I'm sure he'll be sending you some thank you gifts, lol!

To **dethangelx**: Woo, I've started writing on the much awaited HitsuRuki scene already... just need to get the rest of the chapter done that have nothing to do with it, lol. As for the strange font/format, I had no idea what you were talking about till I went to . I think it affects the whole site? I haven't done anything different with my uploaded documents.

To **everyone**: Thank you sooo much for reading/reviewing! I love to read all your comments! It makes me smile you guys are enjoying it as much as I do! Thanks for your support! -kuro


	10. Hail the Espada Kings!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Ten: Hail the Espada Kings! Grimmjow's Unexpected Love?!**

"Good morning, ojii-sama!"

Rukia greeted her beloved grandfather at the table for breakfast, and joining them was Yoruichi in her arms. The cat had recently become a new member of the Kuchiki household, and the girl was thrilled because she never had a pet before, not to mention a talking cat, which no one else needed to know about.

Even the household help were used to the small animal around, to the point that her very own meal plate of grilled fish was prepared for her, and Yoruichi began to live a life of feline luxury - better than living with Kisuke who only served her burnt chicken.

Ginrei was sipping his usual morning tea and Rukia took a bite of the grilled salmon with rice just as Byakuya entered the room and greeted them. Even though it was the weekend, he didn't allow himself any extra sleep because he was just that strict and... overbearing when he sat down and reached over to Rukia with a napkin to wipe a speck of rice from the side of her mouth. She blushed with embarrassment, still being taken care of by her brother at that age.

"What is that?" Byakuya's stern voice rang over the tranquil atmosphere.

Rukia looked up and followed his line of vision straight to her left side where Yoruichi sat, nibbling on her fish. Ginrei chuckled behind the teacup as the perplexed girl explained the obvious, "A cat, nii-sama."

At the mention of her existence, Yoruichi looked up and did her best cute cat impression with her friendly mew, but Byakuya wasn't about to be fooled by appearance. Just a single glance at the fur ball, he sensed something ominous and didn't want it around his family. So with some patience, he used a different approach for a more elaborate explanation, "What is a cat doing in the house?"

"Um, Yoruichi-san's my friend," she petted the feline's head, "She keeps me company... when you're not around, nii-sama." She hated lying to her brother, but at least it wasn't a complete lie since Yoruichi had been keeping her company, whether to mentor her or be on guard for hollows nearby.

Byakuya, nearly distracted by the fact that his sister had admitted to being lonely without him and deeply moved by her feelings, wasn't about to be swayed into keeping the animal.

"You can't keep it," he said with finality, and referring to the animal as an object kept emotional detachment to it, which he had learn to do quite well growing up.

"But nii-sama, why?!"

"I'm allergic to cats."

Ginrei's eyebrows rose straight up to his hairline, "That's the first I've heard of it."

After the reveal of that falsehood, it was foolish of him to attempt to deceive his sister, and as cute as the pout she was giving him, he had to be honest, "No pets."

"Nii-sama, you have a koi pond."

"..."

She got him there, but his carp babies didn't have some strange, demon-like aura around them, and all they do was swim around in the damn pond. They were pretty to look at too.

"I don't like cats," he tried something else.

"But you don't hate them?" Rukia's voice sounded curious.

"I hate them," he revised his statement, as the maid placed his breakfast before and then was dismissed. Rukia wanted to object, but when he started eating, it ended the conversation and left Yoruichi glaring at the Kuchiki head.

Byakuya, 1. Yoruichi, 0.

* * *

One nice afternoon, Rukia in her shinigami form had just smashed the white hilt of Sode no Shirayuki into the hollow's broken mask. A crack appeared, followed by a flash of blinding light, and eventually the hollow returned to its human form. The figure of a man laid on the grass as Ichigo walked over and made a disgusted face, hesitant to pick up the green pill that fell from the man's mouth.

"Just take it, Ichigo!"

"But it's so gross!"

"Stop being such a girl!" she sighed, sheathing her zanpakuto away.

"Shut up!" With a deep breath, he picked up the offensive object with his thumb and index finger and dropped it into a small, plastic bag. Then he glared at Rukia, wondering why she had been snapping at him at the drop of a hat, "And what's wrong with you? PMS'ing?"

She threw her own glare at him, "No."

It looked serious, so he apologized and softened his tone, "You can tell me, you know. We're friends."

She thought about his words and then sat down on the nearby bench, with him joining the spot next to her. She started to speak about the situation with her brother, "Nii-sama won't let me keep Yoruichi-san."

"Did he say why?"

"Well, he says he hates cats, but I think he's afraid Yoruichi-san might eat his koi."

"Do you think she would?" he pondered over that, imagining the evil cat sneaking to the pond to eat the fish.

Rukia felt offended, "This is Yoruichi-san, Ichigo! A highly intelligent, talking cat!"

"Yeah, but she's still a cat, you know. And all animals have basic instincts."

"Ugh, you're taking nii-sama's side!"

"Eew, no way!"

Byakuya, 2. Yoruichi, 0.

* * *

So during lunch at school, instead of having the meal with her brother, Rukia had been avoiding him because of her feelings on the pet situation. After her discussion with Ichigo, she decided to eat with Orihime and the girls instead, outside beneath a tree. The girls were talking about something she couldn't remember, because she was still wrapped up on her problem. Orihime noticed and asked her about it.

"I want to keep Yoruichi-san, but I don't want nii-sama to be upset either."

"Keep her secretly!" Chizuru suggested, thinking that Yoruichi was a cute girl, "Forbidden stuff is always hot! Oh, why don't you let me keep her then! Heheh."

Tatsuki smacked the back of her head, "Who's Yoruichi?"

"My cat."

Chizuru seemed disappointed at the information, but Tatsuki seemed thoughtful, "Hm, can't you just keep her in your room? My cousin's cat is always in her room. I think it's afraid to go outside or something."

Rukia couldn't see that happening, confining Yoruichi to one room was like trying to keep a tsunami in a fish bowl, and she looked over to Orihime to seek her opinion, but the girl just shook her head, "Sorry, Kuchiki-san, I like cats, but I'm allergic to them."

Byakuya, 4. Yoruichi, 1.5.

* * *

Rukia and Ichigo hurried down the street with great urgency, since they left school immediately as the bell rang even though Ichigo had clean up duty. He just couldn't let Rukia face this herself, whatever the emergency - obviously it wasn't a hollow problem - was that called them straight to the ramen shop. She threw the door aside, and the two teenagers were breathing hard in the doorway.

"What's the emergency?!" they both yelled.

Kisuke, behind the counter, looked up from his sudoku puzzle, "Hm? Something wrong?"

The two kids fell over.

Ichigo then yelled at him, "You called us here about something urgent!"

"Oh, right. Have you guys seen Yoruichi?"

Rukia sat on the stool and told him, "Three days ago, at my house. After nii-sama said I couldn't keep her, she left angrily. I haven't seen her since." She paused and frowned at Kisuke, "I thought she came back here."

The shop owner seemed worried, "No, I haven't seen her either. She normally doesn't stay away for so long, without telling me."

"She got eaten by a hollow?" Ichigo wondered.

"We would know about a hollow appearance," Rukia sighed.

"She got catnapped?"

"What?"

"You know, like kidnapped, but she's a cat," he mused.

"..."

* * *

After the quick meeting of what to do with a missing Yoruichi, Rukia wandered a nearby neighborhood searching for her feline friend. They had decided it was best to look for her in case something serious did happen, so she took the west side while Ichigo went east, looking through the neighborhoods the cat had been known to be seen in. To aid her in the quest, Rukia created a sketch of the cat and showed it to the people of the neighborhood.

So far, no information turned up, but she wasn't about to give in yet. She went into a different street, turning the corner, and in the distance, she could see someone hunched in between some shrubs. She walked over to the young man, "Excuse me."

His back seemed familiar, and when he turned around, it struck her, "Jeagerjaques-san!"

From his stunned expression, he did not expect to run into someone he recognized or recognized him. He was apprehensive about something, looking about and making sure she was at least alone, and pulled her towards him, within the shrubbery.

"What are you..." she started to question, but glancing behind him told her everything. She smiled at the sight of three kittens slurping up milk from a bowl. "Oh, they're so cute!" she stroke one of them. "Are they yours?" she asked him.

He grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand back, and glared down at her, "You. You better not tell anyone about this."

She looked at him curiously, "Are you threatening me?"

"Look, I don't beat up on girls, but I can make an exception."

"Now that sounds like a challenge," she snorted. "But I don't see what's wrong with this? So you like cats?"

"Are you stupid?!" he said incredulously.

"Oh since you like cats," ignoring his insult, she pulled out her drawing of Yoruichi from her pocket, "have you seen this one?"

Grimmjow examined the image carefully, frowning, opened his mouth to say something but decided to shut up and resumed looking at it some more. He opened his mouth again, paused for a second, then said, "Yeah, I've seen this cat before, but not lately. Why?"

"She's missing," she said sadly, blaming herself for Yoruichi leaving even though it was really Byakuya's fault.

From the sorrow in her eyes, he knew the cat meant very much to her and felt a tad terrible for threatening her earlier, so to make it up to her, he said, "I'll help you find her, if you keep this," he waved his hand over to the litter of kittens still sipping the milk, "between us."

It wasn't like she was going to spread what she had seen to others - wasn't her business - but she could use all the help she could get, so she agreed to his assistance.

* * *

After two hours of nothing, Ichigo returned to the ramen shop at the agreed time and was appalled to see Rukia walking up to him with Grimmjow next to her. "What is he doing here?!" he pointed.

Grimmjow slapped the offensive finger from his face as Rukia explained, "Grimmjow is helping out."

"Yeah, stupid berry, Rukia invited me," he grinned.

"Grimmjow? Rukia? When were you two on first name basis?!"

"Ichigo, why are you nitpicking at that? Yoruichi-san is more important!"

Still eyeing the blue-haired Arrancar student, Ichigo told her he didn't find anything on the cat and asked how she did on her side. Looking at the drawing of Yoruichi sadly, she shook her head. He grimaced at the image, "Geez, no wonder. With that crappy drawing, someone would think you were looking for a demon wolf."

"What?!" Rukia kicked his shin.

Grimmjow smacked his head, "You need your eyes checked. I recognized the cat just fine." Ignoring Ichigo's glare in his direction, he asked Rukia, "You got anything belonging to the cat?"

"One moment." She excused herself into the shop, leaving the two boys in a glaring contest.

"What do you plan to do? Sniff out her trail?" Ichigo inquired.

"None of your business."

Before a fight could break out between badass guys, Rukia returned with a small, rubbery mouse in her hand, "Kisuke said this is hers." Grimmjow turned red, trying to restrain himself from grabbing the toy and biting it, as he nervously accept it. He took a quick sniff of the scent, while Ichigo snickered at the correct assumption. She asked him, "You can find her that way?"

"Just leave it to me," he seemed to impress Rukia, and Ichigo did not like that.

So in the end, Ichigo was forced to follow the two, winding through the streets of Karakura until they finally reach Arrancar High. The three were puzzled as to why they ended up there, and further investigation led them onto the campus to solve this mystery. Grimmjow stopped them, "Wait, you guys need different clothes."

He took them to an empty room and made them wait there while he disappeared. The two Karakura students looked at each other and then waited till Grimmjow returned. He came back with two Arrancar uniforms and told them to change into them. Ichigo wanted to protest, but Grimmjow had no patience for crap, "Look, no one outside of Arrancar is welcomed here. If they find out you're not a student, they'll beat the shit out of you. Not like I care or anything, but I'm doing this for the chick."

Ichigo turned to the girl, "What the hell did you promise this guy?!"

"Promise? I didn't promise anything... Oh wait, you mean that-!"

"A date! Okay, a fuckin' date!" Grimmjow quickly cut in, so she wouldn't reveal his softer side, not that this imaginary date made him look any tougher. Ichigo opened his mouth to say the date was unacceptable, but Rukia just smacked him and Grimmjow.

"Both of you turn around, so I can change."

They did as they were told, grumbling, and Ichigo quickly changed too, into the black gakuran. When she was done, the three left the room and continued to follow Yoruichi's faint trail. They exited one building and entered another, and along they way, Rukia noticed a lot of posters of Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Starrk and a fourth unfamiliar face. She guessed they were popular students, but she didn't understand the appeal beneath appearances.

Ulquiorra, gothic lolita pervert.

Starrk, lazy, sleepy pervert.

Grimmjow, some cat fetish... pervert status, unknown.

Arrancar students were definitely weird.

Rukia, lost in her thoughts, didn't sense the danger until Grimmjow pulled her back, just as the dagger flew into the wall, an inch from where she had been. She looked up and was met with the most terrifying face she had seen in her life. A tall man, with a white eye patch over his left eye, was grinning from ear to ear, holding another dagger between his teeth. He stepped up to the trio, still keeping his one eye obsessively on Rukia.

"Well well, what do we have here?" he plucked the dagger from his teeth and licked his lip, revealing a slithery tongue. "I haven't seen you two before," he gestured towards Rukia and Ichigo, completely ignoring an irritated Grimmjow.

"Back off, Nnoitora!" Grimmjow spat out, "They're part of my fraccion!"

"Gyahaha, that's hilarious, Grimmjow" he laughed, "Didn't you say being an Espada King was a waste of time? And yet, you have such a deliciously cute kitten in your fraccion."

"Hands off!" he repeated, standing protectively in front of Rukia, "She's mine!"

"Like hell!" came Ichigo's innate response, towards both men, when it came to her well being.

Rukia hit both of their heads and stepped up to Nnoitora, who found her boldness quite interesting, and she showed him the picture of Yoruichi, "Have you seen this cat?"

"Hm?" he rubbed his chin, leaning down close to the paper, periodically glancing at her serious face, "Maybe."

"Where is she?" her face brightened at some good news, "I've been looking for her!"

"And what will I get in return for the information?"

"Don't listen to him!" Grimmjow ordered, "I can still track her down."

"Then hurry up!" Ichigo added, pulling Rukia away from Nnoitora, "Let's get away from that freak!"

Nnoitora angrily attacked them, throwing his hand towards Ichigo's head; his dagger sliced through the tips of Ichigo's hair, barely missing the side of his face. Rukia pulled her hand back from Ichigo's grasped and swung it towards Nnoitora's abdomen, but he quickly retreated from her at the last second and smiled arrogantly at the failed attempt to make contact to his person.

"I wouldn't be smiling," she warned him.

He looked down at himself and found a long tear across his white gakuran that Rukia managed to make from her attack. He frowned and snarled at her, "Bitch, you'll pay for that! You dare cross an Espada King!"

"I don't know what an Espada King is, but if you don't let us through, then don't regret it."

He cackled like the insane man that he was, "Grimmjow! You allow outsiders into our territory! This is great! Too great!" After much crazy laughter that no one was enjoying, Nnoitora fell into a fighting stance, hunched forward with knees bent low and each hand gripping a dagger, "I'll enjoy ripping you apart, bitch. No one has left this place alive."

"You're exaggerating," Ichigo laughed nervously, "This is a comedy, not a dark crime drama."

"Well, it's not true," Grimmjow started thoughtfully, "but we've never had outsiders on campus before, so he isn't lying either."

"Who cares!" Nnoitora shouted and charged forward.

"And it's not bitch!" Rukia screamed and dashed towards him, "It's Kuchiki Rukia!"

She blocked his one arm, but his other one slashed towards her legs. She lifted her knee up and smashed it hard into his wrist, forcing him to pull it away. She followed that with a kick of her foot to his shin, causing his leg to fumble, his left knee dropping to the floor. Her hands wrestled the dagger out of his right hand, but with his other hand recovered, he attacked her from the huge opening.

Rukia shoved him back as the dagger ripped across her chest, creating a long tear that matched his gakuran's. She stumbled backwards into Grimmjow's arms while Nnoitora found himself on one knee, creepily licking off the tint of red on the blade. Ichigo looked down at the tear in the top of her seifuku uniform, noting the line of blood on her skin, and quickly looked away, flushing pink at seeing a bit of her skin.

"Guess we're even now, bitch," Nnoitora laughed, "I'll rip more than just that top."

Grimmjow, surprisingly being a gentleman, took off his gakuran and put it on Rukia. Too bad he was wearing a black tee shirt underneath, but anyone could see he was in such good shape, very fit (and delicious). "That's enough, Nnoitora. She's my faccion, and you're not going to lay a hand on her." He gently shoved Rukia into Ichigo's protection while he dealt with the psychotic king.

"Oho, so you're going to fight because I damaged your li'l kitten? When did you become such a softie, Grimmjow?"

Before he took a step forward, Grimmjow glanced to the side, telling the two, "If you go through the door behind him and keep straight, you'll eventually find her."

A surprised Ichigo was about to thank him for his 'kindness,' but Grimmjow scoffed, "Don't think I'm being nice here, I've been wanting to beat the shit out of this asshole for a while now."

Ichigo refrained from throwing an insult and pulled Rukia along. An angry Nnoitora jumped at the opportunity to cut the two escaping, but Grimmjow threw a direct punch to his face, knocking him to the wall. By the time Nnoitora pulled himself together, Rukia and Ichigo were gone, leaving a grinning Grimmjow cracking his knuckles, ready for a bloody fight.

Nnoitora wasn't about to let his prey escape so easily. He leaned back against the wall and laughed, causing Grimmjow to narrow his eyes at him wondering what the idiot was plotting. He watched the crazy guy lift his fist and smashed it into the small electronic panel next to him. An alarm went off in the building, and that was when Grimmjow realized what he had done.

* * *

"Ichigo! We can't just leave Grimmjow alone!"

Rukia, clutching her hands on the edge of the gakuran, was worried for Grimmjow's safety and wanted to turn back to help him, but Ichigo continued to drag her forward to their goal: Yoruichi was waiting for them! They stopped when the sound of the building alarm blared overhead, making them wonder what it was about.

"Let him handle it," Ichigo told her.

"But, that guy. He was a total creep, what if-?!"

"Rukia," he started running ahead again but spared her a quick, serious look, "sometimes, all a man has left to protect... is his pride."

That silenced her as they made their way to the next building, and Grimmjow was right. They stepped right into the library and standing in front of them was Ulquiorra, holding Yoruichi by the neck in one hand, at arm's length as if she was a diseased animal he didn't want. It wasn't like him to be caught off guard, but he was at the sight of Rukia.

She rushed up to him and took Yoruichi in her arms, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," he said, because he really did nothing, or was about to do something before they arrived and caught him. He was innocently going about his life, all the while feeling a strange presence lurking about him for the past days, and finally he was able to catch the culprit that turned out to be a mere cat.

The alarm was still ringing in the background, though a lot quieter in the library, and Ulquiorra asked her, "Did you trigger the alarm?"

"I'm not sure."

Ichigo stood next to her, "It doesn't sound good though."

"It's not," Ulquiorra informed them. The two stared at him, waiting for further explanation, but the guy really took his time, "It's a warning of an invasion. All the Espada fraccions are too seek and destroy all intruders."

"You know," Ichigo started, apparently irritated by the second at being at Arrancar High, "You guys are just a high school, not a damn country!

"Rukia, let's go!"

"Wait," he called out to the two. They turned back to him, and he said, "This way. There's a safe passageway."

After exchanging questionable glances, they shrugged and followed Ulquiorra deeper into the library. The place was huge, rows and rows of books shelved, but from Rukia's view, they seemed unused, collecting dust upon the edges. Ever since her first official clash against Arrancar, she discovered the school was infamous for its deliquents and unbeatable record in sports, but a crappy rank in academics - one of the lowest, if not lowest, in all of Japan.

That explained the unused library.

Ulquiorra accessed the secret passage way in the back of the library, near the history section, because really, what Arrancar student would even venture into the historical subjects, much less the library itself. He then handed them a flashlight to make their way through the darkness.

Ichigo, hesitant, peeking inside, "Are you sure it's safe?"

"We don't have a choice, Ichigo," Rukia sighed and shoved him forward. She looked back at Ulquiorra, "Thank you." When he started to walk towards her, she took a step back, nervously. Ichigo watched carefully and ready himself if the guy was going to make a weird move, but all Ulquiorra did was give her a pat on the head and yanked a strand of her hair.

"Ouch! What's that for?!" she yelled, rubbing her head while her other arm cradled a weary Yoruichi, who had spent days trailing her target with not much sleep.

Ulquiorra turned away with his prized possession of Rukia's hair strand safely in his hands, leaving the girl annoyed and confused about what had happened. Ichigo leaned over to her and whispered, "What was that about?"

"I'm not sure."

The two, with Yoruichi who had fallen asleep in Rukia's arms, started their journey out of Arrancar High, and by the time they reached the exit, they were staring up at the night sky in the backyard of Karakura High's sports fields. And so ended the mystery to Yoruichi's disappearance.

All that time, after leaving the Kuchiki manor, she had been investigating the human-turned hollow phenomenon and wound up tailing a suspect for days to monitor his movements, so who knew that Arrancar High was involved. Students weren't as innocent as people thought they were, not in these times of high school rivalry when anything goes!

* * *

"Please, nii-sama!" Rukia resorted to pleading to her brother to let Yoruichi stay. "I won't ever ask for anything for the rest of my life!"

Byakuya was still being a stubborn jerk though, but as he thought long and hard, there had to be a reason that cat kept sticking to Rukia, and if he wanted to find out, he would have to have the cat around to observer her. Then he would have proof and a legitimate reason to cast the animal away.

"All right," he sighed.

Rukia squealed with delight and threw her arms around her favorite and only brother, much to Byakuya's delight. She continued to hug him and his hands weren't sure what to do. It was the first time they embraced each other since his wife's passing and the warm feeling was almost new to him. He carefully and slowly placed his hands on her small back and squeezed her lovingly.

"I love you, nii-sama," she whispered.

And Byakuya's heart melted at her words.

Byakuya 4. Yoruichi, 1.5. Rukia, infinity.

* * *

After all that had happened, Rukia thought her life would also return to normal - as normal as it could get with her - but the stress from everything had been piling up, and the addition of the semester exams closing in on her, it topped it all. Too much stress could send her into a frenzy, so she figured a break was necessary and ended up at the Kenpachi Dojo to release that part of her tense life by physically whipping someone's ass.

Luckily, Ichigo - her number one target - and the others decided to join her for a break from their studies too, and of course Kenpachi was overly happy to receive them since Ichigo had been avoiding the place like the plague. While Rukia and Ichigo were beginning their practice, everyone else consisting of Orihime, Uryuu and Chad sat on the sidelines and discussed how long Ichigo would last before he got his ass kicked by Rukia.

"Hey!" the subject of their discussion huffed indignantly, "Some friends you guys are."

"I'm rooting for you, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cheered, "And Kuchiki-san!"

"C'mon! Let's see what ya got, kid!" Kenpachi grinned, motioning his student to the center of the room, and stood across from him as the opponent. He initiated the practice match with a step forward and swing from the right, and Ichigo retreated back to avoid the attack and quickly maneuvered to his left, circling his mentor. Kenpachi, still with his trademark grin, spun around counter clockwise to catch Ichigo off guard, but the latter brought his wooden sword up in defense, not a second too late.

Caught in the crossing of swords, Ichigo refused to back down and strengthened his stance instead of forcing it into his upper body in a losing battle of power, because he knew the man was insanely strong. That didn't mean he was willing to admit defeat. He just had to hold his ground and find a weak spot, but his train of thought was interrupted by Kenpachi lowering his sword and walking away.

"Hey! We're not done!" he shouted.

Kenpachi just waves a hand casually, "You lost."

"What the hell?! The fight wasn't over!"

"You think you can beat me? That's another twenty years, kid," the kendou master turned around and snorted, "But you did better than I expected. Another month or so, you can be on par with Kuchiki."

His comment came across as an insult and a compliment, so Ichigo wasn't sure of what to say, standing agape at his mentor's retreating form from the training room. Rukia silently walked up to him and closed his bottom jaw by pushing it up with the hilt end of her wooden sword.

"Let's spar," was all she said and stood ready in front of him.

Ichigo focused on his female friend and noted something off about her. She seemed cold and indifferent, and for a brief second, he saw a flicker of irritation and wondered what had caused it. Giving into her whims, he fell into opening stance and unconsciously gripped the hilt tightly, with Rukia's odd behavior still lingering in the back of his mind. Just as Rukia made her first move, the feeling of deja vu hit him, and he remembered the first time they fought.

Rukia's flurry of swings forced Ichigo to retreat, like before, but he was able to block and parry a few strikes now. Her intensity appeared to have double since their first unofficial match, and a sudden spike of her spiritual energy alarmed him, and he found himself in a dangerous match. Each swing, now, became hard and lethal, and he noted how similar it was to her fights the hollows.

He stumbled to the side, trying to avoid a thrust of the sword, and Rukia followed his move with the weapon arcing in his direction.

A white object appeared in her line of vision, and she stopped, dropping the sword to the ground, and snatched the item from midair. Ichigo fell to the ground on his bottom and looked up at Rukia, who was cuddling the plush doll of a white rabbit that he recognized as the ever popular _'Chappy the Rabbit.'_ He had never seen the girl so happy, with her whole face lighting up with pure joy, before with a mere child's toy, but she looked beautiful.

He found himself blushing at the sight of her squeals and smiled.

"You should thank me," came the new voice.

Everyone turned to Ichigo's supposed savior - the brief memory lapse of the danger he was in, being at Rukia's mercy - to see an aloof teenager standing casually in the doorway. He had both hands in the pockets of his dark slacks, poised with confidence and arrogance, but it was the smug grin on his face that bothered Ichigo the most.

The room was in silence as the young man walked towards the participants of the match, still in the middle of the room.

"Ah thanks," Rukia casually threw the words in the visitor's direction, too fascinated with her adorable object to even fully acknowledge him.

With an annoyed frown, he bopped her head with his knuckles, "Is that any way to greet me, Chibiko?"

The blushing girl found great interest on the floor instead, clutching her Chappy plushie tighter in fear that he might take it away from her, and fumbled for words that would appease him.

All the while Ichigo and everyone else watched, appalled, at the scene before them, because none of them had never seen Rukia become so flustered before, and wondered who this boy was that could bring the ever powerful Rukia into a shy girl. What did he do to their Rukia, their precious Rukia?!

Ichigo, annoyed by the overly friendly display, demanded, "Who the hell are you?!"

The young man turned to him with a raised eyebrow, slightly taken aback by being addressed with such hostility, and after a brief observation of the rogue teenager, he gave him the _'who the hell are you to demand anything of the great me'_ expression.

"You should have more manners to introduce yourself before demanding it from someone," he scolded, and it flustered Ichigo who was then obligated to introduce himself.

"Hitsugaya Toushirou," he smirked - a smirk that Ichigo would soon learn to despise.

Ichigo made a face as if he wasn't impressed at all, and their friends glanced at one another, wondering if they should be familiar or impressed with the name either, but Toushirou wasn't finished with his introduction though, because he wanted to stress the last point to the orange-haired boy.

"Rukia's fiance."

* * *

**Next episode, Rukia's Harem! A Date Before the Exam?!** (working title)

**Notes:** Impressed, huh? Updated the next day! I wrote this all in one day, my day off, lol. The HitsuRuki got me excited, so I wanted to get to it ASAP. This is just a glimpse of what's to come I guess. Next episode will have more HitsuRuki! *grins* I hope you guys like it so far. -kuro


	11. Rukia's Harem!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Eleven: Rukia's Harem! A Date Before the Exam?!**

The last Friday before the week of semester exams would begin, and all that currently went through Rukia's mind was how adorable her new _Chappy the Rabbit_ present was, all thanks to the young man walking next to her. She was too busy giggling and whispering gibberish to the stuffed animal, oblivious of Toushirou's irritability at the lack of attention she was giving him. He hadn't seen her in four months, and she seemed to have forgotten about him. He frowned, thinking he couldn't allow that to happen ever again.

Toushirou casually reached his hand over to her face and tugged on her cheek.

"Hitsugaya!" she squeaked in surprised, pulling his hand off her face, and tried to rub the pain away.

Stuffing his hand back into his pocket, he kept his eyes forward, asking quietly, "Have you really forgotten about me?"

"Huh," she blinked, "of course not!" Her hand subconsciously played with the rabbit's ears as she spoke, "Why didn't you tell me you were visiting?"

"I wanted to surprise you," he smiled faintly. "Sorry for not keeping in touch. It's been a rough last year."

She nodded, remembering it was his final year at the university, so he should be graduating very soon. As far as she knew, he was also adjusting to the family business, with eventual plans on taking over a lot of the tasks his uncle oversaw to lessen the burden on him. And that was why they hadn't seen each other for a while or spoken, unlike their childhood together when they practically had all the time in the world.

She did miss those memories together, when they were closer, but she didn't want to admit that weakness of depending on him. She wanted to be able to stand on her own and to make him proud too.

"It's fine. I've been busy too," she nodded.

"I know," he sighed. "You've been a bad girl, Chibiko. Going to public school behind your brother's back. And not telling me."

"It's not that big of a deal!" she pouted, "Nii-sama's okay with it now! And, and I would've told you! Eventually."

"You could've gone to Momo's school."

"It's an all girls school!"

"Exactly."

"But all the normal kids go to public ones."

He stopped walking, causing her to stop too, and turned to look at her, "Is this about the promise to Hisana?" She nodded, hugging the plushie like a small child yearning for comfort, and she wore the same sweet, innocent expression that he treasured deeply.

With the warm feeling in chest whenever he was with her, he brought his hands to her shoulders, wanting to pull her closer to him, "Rukia..."

"RUU-CHAN! SHIRO-CHAN!"

Toushirou's left eye began twitching at the voice interrupting, and he cursed the bad timing. They both looked over to see an overly excited girl bouncing towards them. It was none other than Hinamori Momo, Toushirou's cousin and also Rukia's other childhood buddy, grabbing Rukia into a bear hug and squeezing the life out of her. He had to pry the girl's hands off his precious fiancee or he wouldn't have one!

"What are you doing here, Momo?" Rukia asked, still shocked that she was there.

"Shiro-chan said he would go get you but he was taking forever and I got all lonely and impatient waiting, so I went out here to find you! And thank goodness you were almost home 'cause I didn't want to go too far or I'd get lost. It's been so long, I've forgotten the streets around here, haha!"

Momo laughed while the other two just stared at her and wondered if she even had time to breathe between those words. It looked like she was about to start talking again, but Toushirou quickly interrupted her, for fear of his ears bleeding, and explained, "She wanted to visit you too."

The grinning girl nodded, "Yep, it's been so long since we were together, and I figured tagging along with Shiro-chan would make an awesome reunion, ya know! This'll be a great weekend! There's so much we have to catch up on, ya know, 'cause a lot has change! Look, Ruu-chan!" Momo moved next to Toushirou and gestured her hand from the top of her head down to his head, showing the difference in their heights, "I totally grew taller than Shiro-chan, ahaha!"

An annoyed Toushirou pushed her hand off his head and put an arm around Rukia's shoulder, leaning close to her ear with a mischievous grin, as if to share a secret with her. "Guess what else, Chibiko. Momo here has a boyfriend."

"KYAA!" the hyperactive girl spazzed out, "Shiro-chan! I wanted to tell her myself! But omigod, Ruu-chan! I have the sweetest boyfriend ever!"

"Wait, Momo!" Rukia seemed confused and comfortable with Toushirou still leaning on her and his arm naturally draped over her shoulder, "You go to an all girls school, so how did you get a boyfriend?"

Momo was about to happily explain, but the boy was tired of hearing his cousin's mouth run at twenty words per second and pulled Rukia along, "Let's get home first, I'm hungry."

"Ugh, Shiro-chan!" Momo whined, following behind the pair, "You ruin the best moments ever! I swear one day when you have like super awesome news, I'll cut in and spill the beans first! Ahaha, spill the... haha, beans... That's just so funny, I don't know why. Hey Ruu-chan, don't you think so?!"

And there were some things that never change.

* * *

That night, that same Friday night, Ichigo was in his room, studying, but he couldn't concentrate on the current subject sitting in front of him. It was the weekend - even though exams would start the coming school day - so he should be relaxing after weeks of studying, but his mind kept wandering back to the afternoon at the Kenpachi Dojo. The single event seemed to have shattered a part of his heart, or at least he tried to deny that Rukia's engagement to some snotty brat even bothered him.

"Like hell as if I care!" he shouted to his empty room.

That confidence in his poise, that condescending look in his piercing, green eyes, and that, that smug grin!

Upon recalling the irritating smirk when he declared his relationship to Rukia, the sound of a crack echoed in the quiet room. The pencil in his hands had snapped in half.

Ichigo had a problem, and it wasn't the broken pencil - though he did wish it was just that.

* * *

Meanwhile over at the Kuchiki estate, dinner had just ended, and everyone was just enjoying the nice, hot after dinner tea. Ginrei, being the kind and gentle grandfather that he was, enjoyed the endless chattering from Momo, who was glad to have someone willing to listen to her life stories. Rukia was also listening intently, holding the teacup within both hands, as she stared at her friend in complete and utter awe at the speed of her words leaving the mouth. She didn't even know it was humanly possible.

Byakuya, with his own tea, had retired to the veranda, just outside the room, wishing for some peace in the night. Momo's voice did not help, and even worse was Yoruichi had the nerve to walk over to him and purposely curl herself comfortably next to him, and all he could do was glare at the creature. He figured Rukia wouldn't like her pet cat strangled and being hurled to the moon.

"Didn't think you were an animal lover, Kuchiki-san," came Toushirou's voice on his other side, as the young man sat down.

"I'm not."

Toushirou smiled, appearing thoughtful, "The things we do for her, huh."

The older man completely agreed with a nod and sipped his tea. Both fell into silence and gazed up at the full moon while trying to push the the background voices farther into the distance.

"So Momo, how did you get a boyfriend?" Rukia brought the subject back, extremely curious about it, and if one took a careful look of the two men on the veranda, they had completely stilled at her words.

"Ho? Momo-chan, you have a boyfriend now?" Ginrei chuckled, "You're growing up so fast. And next thing I know, you'll be walking down the aisle. Right, Rukia-chan?"

Rukia nodded while Momo blushed and giggled, "Hehe, that'd be way too soon, Kuchiki-sama! We've only dated for a month. Oh, and his name is Izuru Kira! Totally love at first sight!"

"Love at first sight?" Rukia repeated, ever curious, "I didn't think that was possible."

"Of course! I was just walking on campus, well Shiro-chan's campus. I wanted to surprise him one weekend! I mean, don't you get curious about the college guys?!"

Byakuya and Toushirou coughed in the background, but they were completely ignored as Momo continued, "Anyway and there he was! Sitting under a tree with a book in hand, immersed in the words, looking totally smart and handsome! And I just walked over, like being under some crazy trance, and he looked up! Kyaa, it was so embarrassing! I couldn't think of anything to say, so I asked for the time!"

"Wow, Momo, you're so brave!"

"You kids," Ginrei laughed and then stood up, excused himself for the night after exchanging the polite pleasantries with everyone. Byakuya soon followed his grandfather, after reminding Rukia she had a strict curfew - sleeping curfew at that - after the many incidents of catching her coming home late for some unexplicable reason. With Renji and Shuuhei still out of the country, he couldn't find a capable person to tail his sister.

With the two Kuchiki men gone, Toushirou joined the girls in the room again and gave a questioningly look towards Rukia. She just shook her head, indicating that it was nothing important, as if he would ever believe that. It was enough that they had to be apart for so long, and now not knowing what went on in her life bothered him, but he would just get it out of her later.

Yoruichi got up and left the room since she couldn't bug Byakuya anymore, planning to sleep peacefully in Rukia's room, while the girl was eager to hear Momo talk about her boyfriend again, "And what's he like?"

"Izu-kun is very smart! He's studying to be a lawyer!" she spoke proudly of him, "He wants to have his own practice one day, so he's working super hard!"

"You look so happy, Momo," she smiled.

"What about you, Ruu-chan?!" she asked and took a sip of her tea.

"Huh?" she blinked, "Oh, no love at first sight yet."

The tea suddenly shot out of Momo's mouth... onto Toushirou, who was sitting right across from her. "Omigod, so sorry, Shiro-chan!" she cried and tried to wipe the liquid off him while telling Rukia, "Geez Ruu-chan, I sure hope not. You're engaged to Shiro-chan remember!"

"And you!" Momo looked pointedly at Toushirou, "Say something to her!"

Not trying to let it bother him, he just shrugged, "What do you want me to say? _'I forbid you to look at any man other than me!'_"

"YES!"

"Momo, it's not even official yet."

"Well, it will be! Isn't it supposed to happen after you graduate?"

"That is the plan."

"You guys," Rukia waved her hand at the cousins, "don't talk about it like I'm not here."

"Well, what do you think, Ruu-chan?" Momo peered at her future family member, even though growing up together already made them close like sisters.

"About what?"

"About you and Shiro-chan?!"

Rukia stared at Toushirou, who been staring at her with great intensity, and some part of him was nervous to hear her answer, even to the point that he didn't want to know. He closed his eyes and leaned back, "You're being nosy, Momo. This is between Chibiko and me."

"But, but I just want you two to be happy!" she sniffled, "You guys are like my bestest friends! With like the best romantic love story! Well, after mine and Izu-kun's of course! But yeah! It's like destiny!"

"My god, Momo, are you still reading those shoujo manga?!"

She looked offended, along with Rukia who was beginning to be annoyed, "And what's wrong with that?! _School Daze_ is great! It has the exact steps on how to confess to your important person!"

Not to be outdone in annoyance, Toushirou pushed himself forward over the table in Rukia's general direction, challenging her, "Oh? And do tell who you plan to confess to?"

"Err... no one," she said quietly, shyly looking away from his intense green eyes, "I was just pointing out how useful it is. Like how normal girls should be."

He sat back down and sighed, "Why do you even bother with it? You're fine the way you are." He blushed, realizing the words that left his mouth, and quickly coughed to hide his embarrassment, "It's complete fiction. Reality is not like that at all."

Rukia narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him, "You sound just like Ichigo."

"Don't lump me with that kid with no manners," he growled.

"Hey, Ichigo may be an idiot, stubborn, loud and, and... and like a nagging mother, but he's got a good heart!"

"He sounds perfect for you then!" he spat out angrily and stood up and left the room.

"Ugh, why's he acting like a child?!" Rukia frowned.

Momo had quietly watch the banter between the two, at first finding it amusing but then it took a terrible turn, and now her stubborn cousin was behaving like a jealous boyfriend or fiance. He normally was a calm and quiet guy, always thinking with his head and making careful, calculated decisions, and she rarely saw him in fits of anger and loudness. As she thought about it more, he only got like that when it involved Rukia.

Toushirou always tried to play the cool, nonchalant guy, but Rukia would always throw that rational side of him out the window.

"Ruu-chan," she called the confused girl, "Tell me how you really feel about Toushirou."

* * *

The next day had just begun with the morning sun peeking through the window, showering the training hall with light. Rukia's voice rang through the empty room as she swung the wooden sword, finding kendou practice was a great distraction from all that had happened recently. She had been doing this for the past hour, not being able to sleep very well during the night because of her problem with Toushirou.

After talking to Momo, she realized she was at fault too, but that didn't mean she was going to give in to him. She was just as competitive and stubborn as he was, and neither would admit it to the other.

A yawning Momo entered the training room, stretching her arms into the air, "Ruu-chan, it's way too early to be up! It's a Saturday, ya know! And not to mention it's unattractive to be all sweaty and smelly in the morning! When it doesn't involve that other thing! Ahaha!"

She laughed at her own implication, but Rukia looked at her confused, innocently clueless to what her words meant. For being at an all girls school, she sure knew much about relationship and things. Seeing the confusion on the girl's face, Momo sighed, mumbling, "Shiro-chan will have a hard time progressing to the next level with her."

She watched Rukia continue with her practice swing, and from the steady rhythem she created, the gears in Momo's head started to turn, and a rather sinister smile crept upon her lips. In the next second, she left the room with an ingenius plan.

* * *

After morning practice, Rukia took a quick shower and felt refreshed for the day, even her mind was at ease. "No wonder Zaraki-sensei loves to spar," she said to herself, as she gathered her sweaty clothes, "He never has an ounce of worry!" (Everyone and everything, emotions included, probably fear Zaraki anyway.)

"Hey, Ruu-chan!" Momo poked her head into the bathroom, scaring Rukia who was glad she was already dressed.

"I'm done with the bath, if you want to use it."

"No no, I'm good! Just wanted to relay a message. Shiro-chan said to meet him at the Shiro Shiro shopping center, by the fountain. At ten."

"What, are you sure?" she wrinkled her brows in confusion, "That sounds suspicious."

Momo laughed nervously, waving her hand casually in Rukia's face, "Oh c'mon, it's just Shiro-chan! Maybe he's thought about what he'd said and now he's going to apologize to you."

"Hm, you're probably right. Let me get ready then."

"Good! I'll help you!" she giggled and grabbed Rukia's arm and dragged her away.

* * *

Barely a wink of sleep, a grumpy Toushirou was walking down the street with a crumpled piece of paper in his hand. After leaving angrily last night, he just laid in bed staring at the ceiling all night long, playing the evening conversation over and over in his head.

He glanced at the paper one more time, making sure he had read it correctly, _'Shiro-chan, I need your help! Meet me at Shiro Shiro shopping center by the fountain, at 10!'_ The questionable message ended with a drawing of a smiling peach with stick arms and legs. She and Rukia had a similar skill level in the arts.

Maybe Momo was going to convince him to apologize to Rukia with a Chappy gift, and that was the source of his turmoil: Rukia, not the Chappy gift. He knew his words had been harsh and he didn't mean it, but the pride in him wouldn't allow to surrender, but if she apologized first then he would think about it.

He reached the fountain that sat in the middle of the shopping district, with parts of it still being reconstructed. He remembered the area being in the news about a month ago, along with a series of strange natural disasters, and the first thing he did was call the Kuchiki house to make sure Rukia was all right. He sometimes wondered if the girl was a magnet for trouble when he wasn't around.

After minutes of sitting on ledge of the fountain, he checked his watch for the time, and it was five minutes after ten. He growled, everyone knew how he hated tardiness, and this was Momo he had to wait for, so another five minutes and then he would return home and figure out how to deal with his problem, his Rukia.

And speaking of the girl, he spotted Rukia running towards him. He had to rub his eyes a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining things. When she stood in front of him, the truth finally hit him. "That Momo," he cursed her under his breath. His cousin, who normally wasn't one to concoct sneaky plans, was picking up bad habits from a certain someone he knew, and he would have to definitely deal with it later.

"Sorry I'm late, Hitsugaya," she breathed, "She made me try on twenty outfits, and then decided the very first dress should do it!"

Exasperated, she gestured to the cute, sky-blue dress on her body, that hugged her hips, showing her petite figure nicely. The color scheme matched wonderfully with his own white tee and a plaid navy button up shirt, paired with distressed jeans - as if Momo had ingeniously plotted everything, down to their fashion.

Rukia looked at him when he stood up. He was about two inches taller, not much but he was still growing while she probably would be the same four-feet-nine-inches for the rest of her life. She waited for him to say something, anything because she was starting to feel self conscious in front of him. It was strange, she never felt that way with him before. She nervously bit her bottom lip when he kept staring at her in silence.

It seemed like neither wanted to apologize first, waiting for the other to make the move.

Then her stomach just had to growl, and loudly at that.

Embarrassed, she snaked her arms across her abdomen, while he laughed freely, the sound of his voice danced in her ears, and the tension between them disappeared. He reached his hand out to her and brushed some loose strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Hungry hm?" he smiled, and she nodded shyly. "Let's get something to eat then."

Just like those days when they were children, he took her by the hand, and they walked off, together.

* * *

"Yes!" Momo cheered from her hiding spot behind the a flower pot, "It's going perfectly! Tehehe, Momo, you're totally awesome!"

"Mom, that crazy lady is talking to the flowers!" a random kid pointed to Momo.

"Don't point, sweetie," the mother reprimanded, "crazy people need to feel normal too."

"..."

* * *

"Damn that old man," Ichigo cursed, practically dragging himself down the street that afternoon, "Making me run his stupid errands." He reached into his shirt pocket and fished out a piece of paper, listing of all that he needed to get it for his family since his sisters decided to attach a few extra things while he was out.

"Hrm, Yuzu needs detergent, sugar and bread. Karin, snacks and a new backpack. Dad, glue, duct tape, thread." He stopped and reread what his dad needed, wondering why the hell would he need those three items at all. There was the hole in the wall he made the other day trying to surprise attack him, and maybe the old man did mention about repairing the rip in his old tuxedo so he could attend the hospital charity dinner.

He sighed, stuff the paper back into his pocket and headed for the first store. On the way, he passed by a cafe when he suddenly stopped, feeling something quite off. He glanced around and then looked into the cafe, and his jaw dropped. He ran to the door and entered the cafe, trying to be casual about it as he walked right by a table and purposely bumped into it .

"Oh sorr-hey Rukia!" he grinned, "What a coincidence seeing you here!"

"Hello, Ichigo," she greeted, holding a spoonful of delicious vanilla ice cream in midair.

Toushirou, seated across from her, was no longer smiling, glaring daggers in Ichigo's direction for daring to intrude on them. "Kurosaki," he said curtly.

"Shorty, hey."

A vein started throbbing on his forehead, "That's Hitsugaya!"

"You guys having lunch huh," asking the obvious, he sat down uninvited next to Rukia, who scooted farther into the booth to give him some room, which made Toushirou fume even more, "I'm starving too."

Toushirou opened his mouth to tell him off, but Ichigo just waved a waitress over to them, "Miss! I want to make an order!" The young girl came over to take his request while Rukia threw a shrug over to a pissy Toushirou and resumed eating her dessert, and when Ichigo was done speaking to the waitress, he turned to Rukia and asked, "So how's the studying going?"

One more bite of her ice cream, and she answered him, "Good. Nii-sama told me to focus more on my English."

"Oh, you know that's my specialty. If you need help, just tell me."

"She'll be fine," Toushirou cut in, "She has me there."

"There?" Ichigo was puzzled, "Wait, are you staying with her? Under the same roof?!"

"Where else," he smirked. He glared at the white-haired boy but was completely ignored. "Chibiko, we should hurry."

"Oh, right." She pushed against Ichigo, forcing him out of the booth, "Sorry we can't stay, Ichigo."

"What's the rush?" he inquired, standing aside as she slipped out of the seat.

"There's a mov-"

"Chibiko," Toushirou's severe tone stopped her from finishing the sentence, and with a tug on her wrist, he pulled her along.

"Ah, see you at school, Ichigo!" she waved.

"That brat," he huffed and refused to left behind. He gave them ahead start and quickly exited the cafe, having forgotten about his food, and tailed the pair at a safe distance, at least until a strange girl with brown hair twirled into a bun on her head stopped him and a frown on her face. It was never a good sign when a girl is involved, especially an angry girl one doesn't know, making you wonder if you do know her from somewhere.

"You! I don't know who you are, but you will stop following those two!" Momo ordered.

"I don't know who you are either, but you can't stop me," he told her and moved around her, but she grabbed his arm and tried pulling him back. Instead, Ichigo was dragging her forward and tried to pry her grip off his arm. The people around them just gave them weird looks and whispered among themselves at the odd couple, thinking they were in some lovers' quarrel. "Let go! People are staring!" he urged.

"If you promise to leave Shiro-chan and Ruu-chan alone!"

"Wait, you know them?" he stopped pushing against her face.

"Of course, we've known each other since childhood!" she said proudly, "And what relation do you have with them?!"

"Well, I'm Rukia's classmate and friend."

"Oh!" she finally let him go, "But why are you following them? Oh wait, omigod, I know! You're secretly supporting them too, right?! I'm so sorry! If I knew earlier, I wouldn't have been so rude! Really sorry! By the way, my name's Hinamori Momo!"

He stared down unbelievably at the girl, trying to process what she had just said, and all he got from the rapid spew of words so far was her name. "Err, right. Kurosaki Ichigo," he said, "And I think you've misunderstood. I'm trying to stop Rukia from making a mistake with that brat."

"What?! Shiro-chan is not a brat!" she yelled, but Ichigo was busy keeping an eye on the pair in the distance.

"Crap, we're gonna lose them!"

He started running, and an upset Momo followed him, swearing that Ichigo would not ruin the date she had set up for them and how dare he insult her cousin like that. Of course Toushirou had his moments of moodiness, especially when Rukia was mad at him or they were in a fight, but still, he was a great guy. If they weren't cousins or Rukia wasn't her best friend, she would date him. Probably, but eew, no!

"Oh gods, Momo, focus!" she scolded herself, "Think of Izu-kun!"

* * *

It was a beautiful, bright day that Uryuu could finally enjoy without Ichigo and his troubles, and what did he decide to do? Go to _Himawari Sewing_, the local handicraft store that he favored and endorsed in his club, and buy much needed materials for his greatest masterpiece - which he had continuously claimed of the previous project and the project before that, and so on - so what made this one that much more special?

It was going to be submitted into the Karakura fashion competition, where a one-week trip to Hawaii was the grand prize - a prize he planned to take during summer break so he could escape the craziness of the town.

One could almost hear the evil cackle of a full proof plan leak from Uryuu's mind until he faced his ultimate rival walking to the entrance of _Himawari Sewing_. Ulquiorra had stopped in midstep at the appearance of the Karakura student, surprise and annoyance hidden well behind his mask of indifference. He would have ignored him, but the many times the trash claimed the pure princess style was superior than his own gothic lolita was unforgivable. That was like slapping his face with a mackerel, and he hated mackerel or any time of fish for that matter.

"Schiffer," Uryuu tried to be polite.

"Trash."

The sound of a vein popped on Uryuu's forehead, and that was it. He lashed his hands out, throwing out several small sewing needles towards his emo-like opponent, but Ulquiorra effortlessly deflected all eight of them aside with a pair of shears. Upset at having to admit that Ulquiorra had some high level of skills, Uryuu scowled and prepared more needles for another assault but was quickly detained by his opponent's measuring tape taking hold of his left wrist. He sent the batch of needles from his right hand just to have them blocked again, so he resorted to using a purple ribbon to attempt to snatch the shears from Ulquiorra's hand.

The two ended up in a tug of war in front of the handicraft store for quite a bit of time while customers entered and exited the place, giving them odd looks like they belonged in the insane asylum. Who in their right minds would play a childish game with ribbons and measuring tapes, in broad daylight? Not many could make such a girly hobby look wickedly awesome and dangerous either, and neither, being competitive, young men, were willing to surrender in the spirit of, what some would deemed as, the _Anything Goes Handicraft Martial Arts_ - just as long as no one threw a sewing machine into the fray, wouldn't want someone to lost an arm, which was vital for sewing!

* * *

Momo continued to chant Izuru's name, as she chased after Ichigo, and ran blindly into Ichigo's back, "Wha, why did you stop?"

"Grimmjow."

Momo peeked out from behind him and saw a very intimidating guy glaring at them, and they seemed to be mirroring each other with their scowling expressions. The guy just growled, refusing to acknowledge his rival's name, and when he caught sight of Momo lingering behind Ichigo, he sneered at her, "You got yourself a girlfriend, Kurosaki."

Ichigo's face turned red and out rightly denied it, slightly offending Momo as if she wasn't awesome girlfriend material but that wasn't the point because she would never date someone who would get in the way of her best friends' relationship.

Grimmjow laughed, "She's got her hands on you good!" Until the guy had pointed it out, Momo didn't realize that she had held onto Ichigo's shirt, so tightly that her knuckles were pale, and she let go, filled with embarrassment.

"Never! My love belongs to my dear Izu-kun! He's totally better than both of you combined! Smart, handsome, respectful and so caring! No one can ever be as awesome as he is! Oh my darling Izu-kun..."

"Momo," Ichigo sighed, wishing she would just shut up. He was getting a headache now and normally his dad or Rukia was the cause of it, and it looked like Grimmjow wasn't surviving the ramblings of a teenage girl in love either.

"I don't give a shit!" he yelled, and she stopped talking to just glare at him. "Damn, with all these crazy bitches, Rukia looks normal."

"Ah Rukia! Need to stop Rukia!" Ichigo fervently looked about his surroundings, as if he had just remember what his purpose that day was, besides running errands for his family that he had completely forgotten about.

"No! I will not let you!" Momo grabbed his arm again.

"Momo, will you stop that! I'm gonna lose an arm! Aargh, they just crossed that road!"

Ichigo groaned, and just as he got Momo's amazingly strong grip off his arm, he ran away again, not caring that he had already lost Rukia's whereabouts, and was quickly pursued by the relentless girl, then followed by a curious Grimmjow, who appeared to be subconsciously Rukia-focused as of late.

* * *

With hands stuffed in his pockets, he stomped down the street in a very pissy mood. People were giving him strange looks, not just from the deadly aura he was radiating but at his whole appearance. Being tall and lanky, Nnoitora stood out in a crowd, wearing a white jacket over his black shirt with white, baggy pants, all matching (or not) the white hat with huge brim - who would have known this guy was a second-year high school student. He looked more like a rather stylish deliquent, and that was why everyone kept their distance and let the young man sulk.

Ever since that day when he fought Grimmjow, where the battle ended in a draw when several Arrancar students of the different fraccions appeared, he had been wanting a rematch, but deep down what wounded him the most was that bitch named Rukia that had dare marred and defied him. He wanted revenge against her more than anything at the moment and would do anything to have that wish come true.

He was walking by a movie theater when his senses kicked in, and he stopped. There, just to his left, was Rukia standing in line for tickets, but since half of his senses were working, he didn't notice the other person standing obviously close to her, and walked right up to the petite girl, "Hey bitch!"

At the sight of his public leering at her, Rukia took a defensive stance, "Nnoitora!"

Sensing terrible danger, the people around them began to flee as Nnoitora cackled, "Aha, must be my lucky day. I'mma hurt you, bitch! And then deal with Grimmjow. I'll tell 'im how I tore up his li'l kitten! Slowly and painfully! Gyahaha!"

She barely moved when the dagger appeared inches from her chest, only to be stopped by someone's hand, gripping tightly around his wrist. Nnoitora's one visible eye glared at the bold intruder and was met with Toushirou's furious, green eyes, and despite the strong hold on his arm, he was not about to let some pipsqueak outdo him.

Before Nnoitora's free hand could react, Toushirou had used his left fist and smashed it into Nnoitora's stomach, knocking the wind out of him. The taller teenager doubled over from the pain and would've fallen if Toushirou still didn't have a hold on him, but he refused to let his knee meet the ground in defeat at that single, powerful punch. A dagger appeared discretely from the sleeve of his jacket into his free hand, and he whipped it towards Toushirou, but the latter reacted faster, jerking him forward by the arm.

The force pulled Nnoitora's body forward in the air, as he fumbled with his weapon, but he never got a chance to attack, being kneed in the gut again and tossed to the brick wall. He was a pile of a mess, sprawled on the ground, but still armed until he screeched in pain from the foot drilling into his hand.

Toushirou plucked the dagger from his fingers and then stabbed the concrete ground, millimeters from Nnoitora's nose. In a low, deep voice, he warned the defeated man, "If you ever raise a hand to Rukia again, much less look her way, I swear I'll make your life a living hell."

Nnoitora hated looking so weak in that moment, but every part of his body was aching badly. He only took two major hits, but each one sent a wave of pain coursing through his body, leaving him currently motionless as he watched the two walk away. He didn't want to admit it, but he believed the threat of those words, yet he still could not accept this defeat. He couldn't let them go unpunished for humiliating an Espada King.

"Nnoitora?" came a familiar voice, and he knew he was doomed, looking like crap, in front of her. He closed his eye, refusing to look at the worried, young woman coming to his aid. "What happened?" she sniffled, "Did someone beat you up?"

"NO, I tripped and fell!" he yelled at her, "Now leave me alone!"

"Nel-chan can't do that!

"Go away, stupid woman!"

"Nel-chan is not stupid! Nel-chan is adorably naive!"

"..."

* * *

Ichigo stopped running to catch his breath and inwardly admitted that he had no idea where Rukia was anymore, just as Momo and Grimmjow had stopped right behind him, catching their breaths too. (These kids are out of shape.) He then turned to Momo, "Where are they?"

"How should I know!" she glared.

"Didn't you set this date up for them?"

"What date?!" Grimmjow inquired angrily, "Rukia has a date? What the f-!"

Momo's voice interrupted his vulgarity, "Yes, but what they do is out of my control! Like if they sneak off to a love hotel..."

"HELL NO!"

The two guys dared not imagine that and were prepare to dedicate themselves to stopping Rukia's purity from being tainted by some new kid who just appeared out of the blue or someone he had yet to meet - Ichigo and Grimmjow, respectively.

* * *

**Next episode, The Weekend Ends! Toushirou's Farewell?!** (working title)

**Notes:** Okay, I had too much fun writing Uryuu's and Ulquiorra's scene... and reference to _Ranma 1/2_'s Anything Goes style of martial arts, lol. I loved that series and had to use the silly martial arts in here, somewhere.

I didn't like Toushirou's fighting scene, but I hope you guys like the HitsuRuki moments. I have them mad at each other and then making up, different from their memories, and I'll explain that in the next episode. And as I write about them, I realize that I'm heading in the HitsuRuki direction because it's just too darn cute not too! I mean, just thinking about Rukia's options: Ichigo, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Toushirou, uhh... not much Starrk, nor Uryuu or... uh Renji and others... I can't help but make it a HitsuRuki, ne! Lol, so much for more harem-ness! Not that it would stop the other guys.

I apologize for the crazy Momo, lol. Okay, not really... I like her like this, makes for silly moments. And she picked up bad habits from Rangiku, lol.

Okay, enough rambling. Next episode might take a bit longer since I haven't plotted much after Toushi's appearance, and I had most of the last three episodes written last week. Anyway, this is too long so no individual replies to the reviews, but thank you very much, everyone, for your kind words and support! -kuro


	12. The Weekend Ends!

**Disclaimer:** _Bleach_ belongs to Tite Kubo.

* * *

**Bleach: The Shoujo Side**

written by Kurosu

**Episode Twelve: The Weekend Ends! Toushirou's Farewell?!**

After a quick rest from all the running, Ichigo was ready to book it from the stop in front of _Himawari Sewing_ store, not that any one of the three noticed the situation - literally right in front of Uryuu, whose was wrapped in measuring tape from his upper body to his mouth. Ulquiorra had an arm and a leg tied up in purple ribbons, holding a small pillow defensively in his mouth as a shield to stop the needles, and around them on the ground laid several shears, cut thread and fabric, and disembodied mannequin parts.

With his mouth bound, Uryuu couldn't request assistance from Ichigo, while Ulquiorra could, if he spat out the pillow from his mouth, debating whether to call out to his fellow Arrancar classmate - not that he would admit to help or be made fun of - but they did mention Rukia, a date and a love hotel.

"Trash," he called to them, the three teenagers turned around and fell over at the ridiculous sight. Momo laughed till her stomach hurt and tears spilling from her eyes while Grimmjow and Ichigo refused to untangle Ulquiorra for calling them names when he was the one who needed help. Eventually, Momo freed Ulquiorra at the protests of everyone else.

Uryuu, ripping the last of the measuring tape from his arm, asked them, "What is this about Kuchiki on a date? Is it with that fiancé of hers?"

"Fiancé?!" Grimmjow's jaw dropped, and Ulquiorra's face barely twitched, something akin to shock and horror. After exchanging glances with each other as if expecting one of them to explain, they figured the only unfamiliar face between them could shed some light on the situation.

Momo pouted and crossed her arms, "Just because you guys are Rukia's friends, doesn't mean I have to tell you anything, ya know! She has her own life and deserves some privacy, especially from a bunch of strange guys who have no relation to her. And being her childhood friend, I'm obligated to-MMFRM..."

Grimmjow's hand clasped over her mouth to prevent her from further mental abuse that could lead to brain hemorrhages of the male gender in the vicinity. He looked at Ichigo, "Is she marrying some idiot?!"

The girl pried the hand from her mouth briefly to yell, "Shiro-chan is not an idiot!"

"The marriage cannot happen today or ever," Ulquiorra stated mater-of-factly as he tied Momo up and stuffed the needle cushion, without the needles in them of course, into her mouth to keep her quiet while they devised a plan to rescue Rukia from a doomed married life. No one bothered to point out the misunderstood situation that accumulated from a few phrased assumptions, but in the end, one conclusion was the truth: Rukia was claimed by a mysterious person named 'Shiro-chan' (who suddenly appeared after ten episodes).

* * *

Far, far away - or at least Toushirou hoped so - from any unnecessary interruptions, he watched as Rukia browsed through the display of manga on the shelf, searching for her beloved shoujo series. He had chosen a more secluded and quieter place to be with her and observe her with the excuse on finding some textbooks to assist her studies in a few subjects. He kept an eye on her while he fingered each spine of the books, glancing through the titles till he found the one he wanted, though his mind was still on the event that happened earlier when they were attacked by some psycho at the movie theater.

After kicking his ass and warning him to stay away from the girl, Toushirou was no longer in the mood to sit down for a film, even if it meant a bit of intimacy between them. He took the book from the shelf and flipped through it, slyly noting that Rukia seemed relatively normal after what did happen, which led him to believe it was a daily occurrence for her, and he did not like that even more.

"Who was that?" he inquired without removing his eyes from the pages in front of him.

"Um, not a friend?"

"Obviously."

"He calls himself 'Nnoitora' - I don't really know him."

"Then why is he after you?"

"It's..."

She had stopped talking when she felt a sudden chill and knew exactly what it was when she had felt it many times before, right before she would have to make some lame excuse to run off to fight a hollow. She usually had the shinigami badge with her, but she had forgotten about it when Momo was rushing her out of the house to meet Toushirou. So even if she knew she had to deal with the hollow, she couldn't exactly disappear from Toushirou's side without drawing more suspicions on herself and she still lacked the badge.

"What's wrong?" he, not only noticed the strange pause in her speech, but the stiffness in her movements alerted him to a disturbance that made her uneasy.

"Nothing."

"You're a bad liar," he told her as he put the book he held back into its place on the shelf and focused his attention on her. He grabbed her chin with thumb and index finger and brought her face towards him, "Because you never look at me when you lie."

True to those words, she had been avoiding his face, especially his eyes when they could always see right through her as if he was looking right into her heart, but it didn't stop her from trying, unwilling to give in, "It's really nothing!" She braved herself into meeting his eyes, but the shiftiness of her violet orbs did not convince him, and he pressed her back against the opposite shelf, trapping her between his arms on both sides of her.

Stuck in the back corner of a low profile bookstore, no one would bother them as he proceeded with his long awaited interrogation of her. He leaned close to her until their foreheads were millimeters apart, and her hands pressed softly against his chest, afraid that if he touched her, skin to skin, he would know everything - like he was some kind of mind reader. (Silly Rukia.)

"Hm, what's this?" came the voice behind them.

They turned to the uninvited guest, and Rukia, immediately thankful for the interruption, looked relieved at the appearance of the ramen shop owner leaning casually over one of the low book shelves. Kisuke fanned himself, leering at the two teenagers in their intimate position, "This is a bookstore, not a love hotel."

Toushirou glared at him, not oblivious of the amused smile thrown in Rukia's direction, and straightened himself, still keeping the girl within his arms, "It's none of your business."

The distraction gave Rukia the opportunity that she needed to excuse herself to the restroom, and she slipped under his arms before Toushirou could protest or insist on accompanying her to the facilities, because he hated having her out of his sight, especially when she was prone to attracting danger. She was quick when she wanted to be, disappearing around the corner, and he growled, thinking of a good punishment for her.

After her leave, he turned to the nosy man that had bothered them and found him gone too. There was something definitely suspicious about the whole thing and about Rukia, and he also disliked the fact that she was keeping secrets from him.

* * *

Kisuke had just left the bookstore when a hand grabbed him by the collar of his black coat and pulled him into the side alley of the bookstore. He was greeted by the upset face of Rukia glaring at him, even though he did allow her an opportunity to escape, and reminded her of it, "What's with that look, Rukia-chan? You should be embracing me with a grateful hug!"

He opened his arms widely to invite her for a loving embrace, but she did not budge from her spot, demanding, "Why are you here, Urahara-san? It's just not a coincidence, is it?"

Once more the girl broke his heart, and he let it show with a mournful sigh before explaining, "Yoruichi and I have been looking for you. There's another hollow coming through the gates."

"That's what I felt too."

"Even without the badge?" he seemed to be smiling again, and she nodded, "Good, you're starting to sense the reiatsu of the gates, before the hollows even come through."

"But I can't just leave Hitsugaya behind," that was her ultimate problem, besides the hollow attack, "He's already suspicious of me."

"Leave it to me!"

Kisuke then took out something from within his sleeve and dropped it in her hand. She stared at it with wide eyes and then a huge grin, at the small, white circular object with the imprint of a rabbit's face, "It's cute! What is it?!"

"It's the completion of the mod-soul candy I've been working on. And this one is just for you."

"And you're sure it's safe?"

"Very safe." He laughed, "Urahara approved."

"That's not comforting to know."

"You wound me, Rukia-chan! I'm the most honest, most handsome, and most perverted businessman you know."

"One out of three doesn't cut it for me - definitely not," she sighed, thinking how the last description fitted him best, "but it doesn't look like I have a choice anyway." And with that, she popped the adorable candy into her mouth, and immediately her shinigami form was pushed out of her body just as the fabricated soul took over. She stared amazingly at her body, no longer limp and lifeless but moving on her own, but soon that awe would be wiped into oblivion.

"Master!" the mod-soul Rukia squealed, bowing to the flabberghasted shinigami, "What are your orders?!"

"Isn't she cute," Kisuke jumped at the chance to embrace Rukia's body but was quickly shoved to the wall by the real Rukia.

"Why is she so... so chipper?" Rukia stared at the mod-soul bouncing from one foot to the other, awaiting her master's orders.

"Um, random personality input?" he suggested innocently.

"Somehow I don't believe that," she grumbled and then turned to the mod-soul, "Anyway... err... what's your name?"

"I don't have one, master," she stopped hopping around and tilted her head to the side.

"Okay then, I'll just call you Chappy."

"Yaay, Chappy!" she cheered, "Chappy, Chappy, Chappy! My name is Chappy!"

Rukia felt she wanted to face a hundred hollows than the ball of hyperness that was Chappy, nor Kisuke's amused grin, but even though she had doubts with the implanted soul, she couldn't waste any more time, she had to take action before the hollow fully appeared in Karakura.

"Chappy, go back to Hitsugaya at the bookstore and make sure to keep him busy," she ordered, "And don't let him suspect a thing!"

"Yes, master!"

Standing next to Kisuke, Rukia watched her giddy body run out of the alley and then sighed, "Urahara-san, you know you've just unleashed hell into the world."

"But she's so cute."

She elbowed him in the gut.

* * *

Ichigo, alert and looking about, had successfully slipped away from his group of acquaintances while they were distracted by the verbal beatings from a surprisingly strong Momo, who was adamant about them staying out of Rukia's life, or love life. Like hell he would, he didn't want Rukia to ruin the rest of her life by attaching herself to some guy he didn't know, didn't approve of.

_'Or wasn't him.'_

"Just shut up!" he growled to himself.

Recently, another part of him had started to emerge from his psyche whenever Rukia entered his thoughts, telling him that his actions and words were beyond that of a friend. It just wasn't his need to protect that arose when Rukia was with other guys but the jealousy. The voice had become louder and more annoying, to the point that Ichigo had to yell at himself like a crazy person.

"I'm not jealous! And I don't want to keep her to myself! Not that violent, bossy midget!"

"Ichigo?!"

He stopped yelling and found Yoruichi in front of him, staring at him as if questioning his sanity since she had witness him, for the past two minutes, raving about some emotion for a certain shinigami.

"Yoruichi, what are you doing here?" he asked, forgetting about his mental problem.

"I've been looking for Rukia. She forgot her badge at home, and there's a hollow attack." She dropped the badge, from who knew where she pulled it from (like those highly recommended portable subspace pockets), at his feet.

"Shit, where?" he asked, grabbing the very important object and looked at the small screen on the back.

"West of the shopping district."

"Okay, I'll head there while you find Rukia," he told her and ran off to buy them some time, without letting the cat tell him how useless a human would be against a hollow - not that he would listen anyway.

* * *

"Hitsugaya~?!"

Toushirou looked up, from his reading position in a chair, to see a smiling Rukia looking about the store from the doorway. A mixture of emotions slammed into him - from a warm, happy sensation beating in his chest to the perplexity of her image in his mind - and he wasn't exactly sure what he was getting himself in to. He put the magazine down and stood up as she spotted him, the sole customer, and came over.

Was it his imagination that she sort of had a bounce in her step?

"Let's go!" she beamed and dragged him out the door instead of waiting for his active response, and he was pulled unexpectedly into her flow of things.

"Wait a minute!" he said, amazed at her sudden burst of energy when moments ago she looked like a trapped rabbit, "Rukia! What the hell is going on with you!"

"Why do you say that?! Aren't we supposed to have fun?" she asked curiously, tilting her head adorably as she stared at him.

"Well, relaxing was more of the point," he blushed, "You seemed tense and distracted lately." He placed a hand on her shoulder for support, "You need to tell me what's been going on."

"Really, nothing!" she insisted, almost panicking because she, as in Chappy, was doing a poor job of keeping suspicions away from her Master Rukia. The plan was to drag him to all the fun spots, or anything that looked fun since she technically didn't know anything about Karakura, but the guy named Hitsugaya was spoiling the fun with all his questions. So what would Master Rukia do in a moment like this?

"What did I tell you about lying to me?" he frowned.

"..."

"If you don't talk to me, then we can do it the hard way."

"What's the hard way?" she asked innocently.

Toushirou's brows shot straight up to his hairline in surprise, and he blushed at her adorable expression and wondered when the last time she ever looked at him that way. But her innocently curious question had thrown him off guard because she had never bothered to question him like that before, and unsure of how to really answer her, he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to figure out what was going on with her. She wasn't her usual self of calm and collectiveness that he had grown accustomed to, yet he couldn't deny that he liked this cute side to her too.

He looked away, still blushing, and made up an excuse, "Well I can't really show you here."

"Okay!" With determination on learning the answer, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along to a tree which was just ten feet away. "How about here?"

"Err, no."

Then she took him to the park, and a grocery store, and several other public places, until he finally stopped her. They stood in front of a small chapel, where a popular Christian wedding ceremony was in progress. The bride and groom, dressed in the traditional Western garb, were leaving through the doors, and family and friends around them blew bubbles into the air, celebrating the couple's official union.

It was not Toushirou's intention to end up there, but at the beautiful sight of the couple, he started to think about the future. Since his younger days, after discovering his potential, his life had been laid out for him by his parents, from the school he attended and the tutors hired for him to his position in the family clan and even his circle of acquaintances, which were limited to similar noble stature.

But that was the past, a dictated past that he did not loathe because that was how he met her. He pushed himself into the adult world, hoping to forge a future with his own hands where she could live a happy and normal life.

"That looks fun!" she squealed, giving his arm a tug, and pointed at the couple. "Let's get a closer look!"

"Eh Chibiko, wait. They might not like outside intrusion."

"You think so? They don't look like they mind."

"Let's... just stay here and watch."

"Um, okay!"

Her eyes sparkled in admiration of the lovely bride, and Chappy thought how beautiful her Master Rukia would look in the fluffy, white dress, completely oblivious of the earnest stare that Toushirou was giving her. Just watching her excitement over the event, he began to realize that he didn't know her as well as he thought because she never vocalized her thoughts on their unofficial engagement. It started originally as a promise between families, but now that they were no longer children, he was resolute on his decision.

"Rukia."

"Yes?"

* * *

Ichigo ducked, then ran, skid to a stop and turned around and grabbed a rock and threw it at the hollow and ran away again. There wasn't much he could do as a human, and if Rukia saw him now, she would fire him for being a lousy sidekick, which he refused to be one in the first place, but she should still hurry her cute ass to the scene.

"I just thought of her ass as 'cute'?!" he groaned.

The hollow suddenly appeared in front of him, crashing into the ground after a massive leap, but it never got a chance to attack when the air turned cold and the ground in crystal white, freezing the hollow into place. The ice gradually crept upwards, from the ground, and completely encased it in the frozen pillar, followed by the blade of the white Sode no Shirayuki slicing the hollow back to where it belonged.

"About time!" Ichigo collapsed in the middle of the road, surrounding by destruction and ice, while Rukia landed smoothly in front of him, like an angel of death descending from the heavens.

"Don't use that tone with me," she scolded, "I just saved your life after all."

"You wouldn't have to if you had the badge with you!" he took the badge from his pocket and threw it to her, "You forgot it because of your 'date'!"

She tucked her belonging safely into her shihakusho, walking over to him, and extended a helping hand out to him, furrowing her brows into confusion, "Date? What are you talking about?"

"The one with shorty!" he grabbed her hand, and she pulled him up.

"Hitsugaya? Oh." She was quiet for a moment then asked, "That's a date?"

"What did you think it was?!" he sighed and flicked her head.

She swatted his annoying hand away and told him, "Why are you making such a big deal of it?! It's what we always do when he visits."

He didn't answer her, because really, how was he supposed to say that he was jealous of the short, white-haired brat, which would ultimately reveal any ounce of affection he had for the girl, but he didn't have a good reason to give her for his overly protective and nosy behavior as of late. He looked away, hiding his expressions beneath his bangs.

Sensing his sour mood, she prodded her finger into his side, "Ichigo, are you mad?"

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Are to."

"Am not!"

"Are you mad because I forgot the badge? Or are you mad because I'm on a date with Hitsugaya?"

He whirled his head to her, preparing to give her the real answer.

"Are you guys done yet?"

They tiresomely turned towards the familiar voice belonging to Kisuke, with a big sarcastic thanks from Ichigo for his untimely interruption, and the man was lazily stretched across the awning of a nearby store, having watched the two converse for a bit. He should have brought popcorn since Rukia's love life was getting more interesting by the second, not that he was a fan of romantic comedies, but there was never a dull moment with the girl.

Rukia frowned at the man, "I thought you were keeping an eye on them!"

"On who?" Ichigo asked.

"Chappy and Hitsugaya."

Ichigo was confused with this Chappy, thinking it was really a rabbit, and wanted to ask, but Kisuke sat up and hopped off the awning with a shrug, "Hmm, I lost them in the crowd."

If there was one thing she learned about Kisuke, it was that if you want to believe his words as being true then there was always an attached lie to it. He was a very cunning and manipulative man, traits that were required of a successful businessman yet she couldn't understand why his ramen shop stood empty everyday. It was possible he crossed an overbearing woman who cursed him for his philandering ways.

"Let's hurry," Yoruichi's voice interrupted her thoughts, and the cat had appeared from nowhere, "I can just imagine the chaos already."

"Please don't say that, Yoruichi-san!" she sighed, trying not to think of a hyperactive Chappy dragging a grumbling Toushirou around like a paper doll.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toushirou was staring into Rukia's eyes, with the most serious expression he had ever worn - not like Chappy knew - and was prepared to tell her something very crucial that concerned her and the future. He felt a tinge of nervousness, because if one were to compare that moment to anything, it would be like a generic love confession between a boy and a girl...

The tender scene was soon obliterated by a panick look on his face as he dashed for her, and they disappeared in a cloud of dust and debris. The smoky obstruction gradually dispersed, revealing Grimmjow and Ulquiorra's failed assault - both having destroyed the pavement with a bare fist and an industrial sewing machine, respectively - on their target. Momo and Uryuu arrived just as the view cleared, and Toushirou stood gallantly on the iron fence that surrounded the chapel, with Rukia scooped safely in his protective arms.

"How romantic!" Momo exclaimed, her hands clasped together in admiration of the beautiful scene of a prince saving his princess.

Uryuu sighed, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'm just here to keep the peace in Karakura. I have no interest in interrupting anyone's date."

"No one cares about you, Megane-san," the girl next to him said, and then she turned to her cousin, "Shiro-chan! Who knew underneath that grumpy, cold exterior, you're a romantic softie! Taking Ruu-chan to a chapel for a date! It brings tears of joy to my eyes, like you want to elope with her! And I don't blame you when all these guys are chasing after her!"

"..."

Every single male present, excluding Uryuu, frowned and glared at each other, ignoring the the cries and screams from the wedding party who fled from the area, thinking it was one of the mysterious random destruction they had heard on the news. While the sounds of horror fade into the background, the contest of glaring was shattered by Grimmjow's iron fist slamming down on the sewing machine lodged in the ground.

"Give her back now!" he growled.

"Why should I do that?" Toushirou snorted, his hands holding her tightened possessively, "She doesn't belong to you."

"Trash."

Ulquiorra lashed out with a measuring tape from his sleeve, aiming for Toushirou's legs, but the latter jumped into the air again. With a sudden squeal of surprise, Rukia- er, Chappy, unused to all the physically altercations, wrapped her arms around Toushirou's neck tightly and buried her face into his chest. Toushirou was able to avoid getting caught by Ulquiorra's strange choice of weapon, but he was more worried about keeping Rukia from getting hurt. Just as his feet landed on solid ground, he twirled aside with the girl still in his arms to avoid Grimmjow's punch.

The distraction allowed the tape to wrap around his left leg, but Toushirou quickly moved his other foot, stomping his weight on the annoying length of the tape, not letting Ulquiorra have the upper hand to pull him off balance. He made the decision to let Rukia onto her feet, so he would have his hands free to pound the crap out of their attackers.

"Find a safe place and stay there," Toushirou told her, and she nodded and hurried away. With Rukia safely away, he could now focus on those heathens who dared interrupt his precious moment with his fiancée. There was much punishment to deal out, and with all the pent up frustrations in his life, the timing was perfect, in a way.

* * *

"Oh gods..."

Rukia, the real one flying through the air with Yoruichi on her shoulders, groaned because she felt the spikes of reiatsu in the distance, and having learned to differentiate between acquaintances' spiritual energies, she knew exactly who was in a foul mood, along with several others. The cat, clinging on to her, just shook her head too and wondered which situation was worse: dealing with hollows or a group of aggressive, stubborn and possessive male teenagers.

The girl wished she could deal with more hollows instead, at least that way she could just cut and slash them to oblivion, and problem solved. But now, as she stared down from a nearby rooftop, Rukia couldn't quite use the same solution to solve this mess, as much as she wanted to.

It was a good thing she took off to the skies and left Ichigo behind with Urahara, or who knew what else would happen from their presence too.

Rukia spotted Chappy, hiding behind a bunch of trees, while Toushirou was locked in a fight against Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. The two Arrancar students who normally did not get cooperate were on par with the prodigy, which wasn't a fair in the first place, and Momo was on the sideline - more like standing on the sewing machine in the middle of the pavement - emphasizing that point by booing and hissing at the unfair advantage the two had against her cousin. Uryuu, next to her with feet on the ground, seemed amused by the situation, making note of the various fighting styles.

It was best not to ponder over the random appearance of an giant sewing machine and hurry to her own body. Rukia, still careful of her family and friends seeing her shinigami form, snuck down to ground level and around the battle scene towards Chappy. She yanked the girl into the shadows of the trees and asked, "What's going on here, Chappy?! How did this even happen?!"

"Master!" she hugged Rukia, which was odd to see her body hug her soul form, "I was doing as you told me, then all of a sudden these guys appeared and started fighting. I was so scared!" She sobbed on Rukia's shoulder.

"Err, it's okay, Chappy. I'm here now," the girl consoled her with a hug and pats to her back.

* * *

The difference between the fighters could be easily seen from their approach, from Grimmjow's raw strength and head charge into the battle to Ulquiorra's range attacks and meticulous observations of movements within the area. Toushirou saw this and also noted the similarities from his earlier fight against Nnoitora, but they didn't fight as dirty as that lecherous scum since it was two against one.

Hand-to-hand combat wasn't his strongest skill - his best being kendou - but Toushirou could handle it like he was a master, able to block the force of Grimmjow's fist with little trouble yet he couldn't deny the immense power the guy had. If it had been anyone else, they probably wouldn't survive a single punch. Just as he parried a fist to the side, another hand jabbed towards his chest, and Toushirou blocked it with the palm of his other hand and fell back two steps, glaring at the interference from Ulquiorra.

The indifferent, young man had jumped in to the close combat at a perfect point that would catch him off guard, but he had underestimated the white-haired kid, who seemed very experienced for someone so young (or so he thought). No matter the opponent, Ulquiorra was not going to let anyone take away his lovely muse.

"That's enough!"

The very pissed off voice boomed over them, followed by the image of an angry Rukia running towards them. Toushirou knew to step back as he watched her fly ahead, right into a surprised Grimmjow and a blinking Ulquiorra. She sent a punch to Grimmjow's face and a kick to Ulquiorra's midsection, knocking them both to the ground. She then turned her furious eyes to Toushirou, who raised an eyebrow at her rare expression of fury. The fiery look bore into his green orbs, and he felt a sudden bubble of excitement churning in his stomach, enjoying the heated attention she was giving him.

"Hitsugaya!" her voice was low and steady, seething with anger and disappointment, "I thought you'd have better control of yourself!"

"Didn't I?" he challenged her tone with his own superior one, "Those two are still alive and breathing." He grinned triumphantly when she considered that fact and pouted.

"The moment I take my eyes away, the madness starts," she mumbled to herself, wearing a mixture of a frown and a pout, and Toushirou realized strangely that she was not so peppy as earlier, well far from it. He placed a hand on her forehead, and she immediately flushed pink, ducking back slightly and removing his hand from her, "What are you doing?"

"You've been acting strange, Chibiko."

"Yes, because you're stressing me out!"

"Is that so?" He seemed thoughtful for a moment, "I have the best remedy for that."

She perked up, "Huh, really?!"

"Oi, don't forget about us!" Grimmjow shouted from his spot on the ground.

Momo smacked the back of his head, "Ugh, why do you have to ruin the best moments ever!"

"You've got some nerve, bitch!"

Ulquiorra, now ninety-five percent recovered from the girl's surprise attack, had squeezed in between Rukia and Toushirou as he removed the boy's hand from her grasp, physically separating the filth of trash from his muse's person. He proceeded in taking a sanitary wipe (from the subspace pocket) and wiped her hand then her forehead clean, at the dismay and offense of Toushirou glaring at him.

"Oi Rukia! Why'd you leave me behind!"

All eyes turned to Ichigo jogging up to them, and he looked at all the faces present, from Momo and Grimmjow's bickering to Ulquiorra and Toushirou's glaring contest, all standing in front of a destroyed church yard. He noted the bruises and cuts on the guys, excluding Uryuu, and looked at his classmate, "Uh, did I just miss something?"

Uryuu, after glancing at each person present until his gaze landed on Ichigo again, shrugged, wearing a secretive smirk.

* * *

"Hitsugaya! What are you doing?!"

Rukia screamed as she ran down the hallway, that evening at the Kuchiki estate, with Toushirou right on her trail. After her tiresome day from all the running about in the streets and dealing with a bunch of teenage boys, she had hoped to come home and have a relaxing evening alone, in the hot bath preferably, but it seemed that Toushirou had other ideas.

She stopped and ducked, and Toushirou grabbed nothing but air. He turned back towards her just to see her fleeing in the opposite direction again. He cursed her quickness, wondering how did she get so fast (thank Yoruichi for the shunpo training), but eventually, he would catch her. It wasn't like she had a place to go to; he knew all her hiding spots.

She bounced from one end of the mansion to the other, trying to escape Toushirou's grasp. She ran by Momo, who was just leaving the bathroom after her evening bath, and cut into the main gathering room, where her grandfather and brother were enjoying their tea. No one bothered to help her nor found the chase uncommon in the household, after all the two were engaged though it was preferred they did their flirting in private.

Byakuya's hand almost twitched, when Toushirou slipped by, wanting to yank the adolescent from his dear sister - engaged or not - but his grandfather gave him that look, the look that said _'kids are just having fun, let them enjoy their youth.'_

After cutting through the common room, Rukia dashed out into the side yard, but her footing didn't hold, and she slipped, landing forward and ruining her yukata. That didn't stop her from getting back up again, but because of that small mishap, Toushirou pounced on her, forcing her back on the grass. He had her pinned down with his body pressed on her as she struggled beneath him.

"You lost," he chuckled.

"You're such a bully," she sighed, trying to prop herself up, but his weight on top of her wouldn't.

She gave up and just dropped her head upon her arms and laid there. Not caring that they would need another bath later, he remained there with her, keeping her all to himself in the solitude of night. It would be there only time together before he left the next day, and at the thought of having to part again, he nuzzled his face against the back of her neck while his arm weaved itself around her waist.

She sensed his possessiveness and turned slightly to try to see his face, "Hitsugaya?"

"Toushirou."

"What?"

"Call me Toushirou."

"Why? You never told me to before."

"Just do it, Rukia."

"Um, okay..."

"Rukia."

A strange feeling crept into her stomach, but it wasn't terrible. She had only said his name once, and that was when they first met, but now to be allowed to, to be requested to say it again, something was changing, and it wasn't just the obvious physical things between them, something beneath it all. She didn't quite understand what she was feeling, but her face flushed warmly, the same warmth she felt from his body.

She felt his arm around her tighten, waiting patiently for her, and everything around them was quiet except for her voice, reaching out to him,

"Toushirou..."

She thought he'd be satisfied, but he wasn't done with her. His hand started to move, and she suddenly found herself laughing aloud, rolling onto her back while trying to stop his wandering hands from seeking her ticklish spots. She tried to speak, in between the laughter and the gasps for air, "Hitsu-Aha, T-Toushi-aha-shirou! Stop! Ha, p-please!"

"I'm not done punishing you," he smiled.

"Nooo-!"

* * *

**Next episode: Post Exam Blues! The Hypothetical Situation is Real?!** (working title)

**Notes:** I have mixed feelings with this episode. There were parts I liked and parts I... am not too happy with. I think there's just too many characters to deal with, and it just felt forced. And now that you guys have your Toushirou and the HitsuRuki moments, it's back to the bigger plot? Lol, which I'm slowly trying to organize on paper, so the next update might take a bit longer too.

I apologize for not being able to reply to each reviewer, but the change in temperature here is giving me a headache. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message, I'll answer those faster. Until next time, thanks! *runs off to nap* -kuro


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